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
Brown the cutlet in 1/4 tablespoon of butter.
In a separate pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and stir in 1 tablespoon of flour to make a roux.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 cup of stock or water, and 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce to the roux.
Cook until the sauce thickens, then pour it over the cutlet.
Cover and cook at a low temperature until the cutlet is very tender.
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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Flour + saucetop 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
- Forms a roux with the butter that thickens the sauce.
- Butter
- Browns the cutlet and carries the flour to form the roux.
- Stock or water
- Makes up the liquid that the roux thickens into a sauce.
The step that matters
Cook the sauce until it thickens. The roux must cook long enough for the starch in the flour to swell and thicken the liquid; stopping early leaves a thin, floury sauce.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sauce):
- Capersfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sauce. 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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