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Breast of Veal Ragout

A veal ragout simmered with herbs, spices, and a rich gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Breast of Veal Ragout

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the veal

  1. Cut the breast of veal lengthwise into reasonable portions.

  2. In a pan, heat butter and fry the veal until browned.

  3. Transfer the veal to a stewpan and cover with veal broth.

  4. Add sweet herbs, parsley, onions, mace, allspice, and lemon peel.

  5. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, cover, and stew for 1.5 hours or longer if needed.

Make the gravy

  1. Strain the gravy from the fat, keeping the veal covered.

  2. In a small stewpan, melt a little butter and mix in flour.

  3. Gradually pour in the strained gravy and bring to a boil, skimming off any scum.

  4. Add sherry or Madeira, Harvey's sauce or mushroom ketchup, and lemon juice; boil again.

Serve

  1. Place the veal in a deep dish, pour the gravy over it, and serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Parsley + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Breast of veal
Provides the meat that becomes tender during slow stewing in broth.
Flour
Thickens the strained gravy as it cooks with the melted butter.
Butter
Browns the veal at the start and adds richness to the gravy.
Veal broth
Supplies the liquid that stews the veal and forms the base of the gravy.
Sherry or madeira
Adds depth and a touch of sweetness to the finished gravy.

The step that matters

Skimming the gravy as it boils. Scum rising from the strained gravy would cloud its appearance and taste, so it must be removed as the gravy comes to a boil.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, parsley, onion, allspice, lemon, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, parsley, onion, allspice, lemon, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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