Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Veal Cutlet
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Brown and make the sauce
Brown the cutlet in 1 tablespoon of butter.
In a saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter.
Whisk in 1 ½ tablespoons of flour and cook until golden.
Gradually add 1 ½ cups of stock or water, stirring constantly.
Add Worcestershire sauce and salt, and bring to a simmer.
Braise and serve
Pour the sauce over the cutlet, cover, and cook at 300°F (150°C) until very tender.
Garnish with chopped parsley before serving.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Sauce + flourtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,078 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce when cooked briefly in melted butter, giving it body.
- Butter
- Browns the cutlet and forms the base of the sauce, adding richness and flavour.
- Stock or water
- Forms the liquid of the sauce and keeps the cutlet moist while it cooks.
- Worcestershire sauce
- Adds savoury, tangy depth to the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the stock to the roux. Adding liquid gradually while stirring constantly keeps the flour smooth and lump-free, so the sauce thickens evenly instead of clumping.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sauce, flour):
- Capersfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sauce, flour. 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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