Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Veal Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Cut veal into slices ½ inch thick and 3 inches square.
Round the corners and lightly beat to flatten.
Season with salt and pepper.
Dust with flour.
Dip each cutlet in egg.
Cover with bread crumbs.
Fry and assemble
Heat butter and lard in a frying pan over medium heat.
Fry the cutlets until golden brown.
Arrange cutlets on a warm dish.
Place ½ teaspoon of capers in the center of each cutlet.
Soak the anchovies in cold water. Remove skin and bones. Cut in half. Roll up the anchovies.
Place one roll on each cutlet with a quarter of a lemon.
Garnish with parsley.
Serve.
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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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lemon + caperstop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,222 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + caperstop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,088 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal steak
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked to tender, browned slices.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder so the bread crumbs stick to the veal.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the coating brown in the pan.
- Anchovies
- Add a salty, savory depth that complements the veal.
The step that matters
Fry the cutlets until golden brown. Frying over medium heat browns the crumb coating through the Maillard reaction while the veal cooks through. Too high a heat scorches the crumbs before the meat is done, and too low a heat leaves the coating pale and greasy.
Swap the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, lemon, pepper, egg, bread):
- Parsleyfits better
- Sagefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Capersthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, lemon, pepper, egg, bread. 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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