Name: Pressed Veal
Ingredients: 6 to 7 pounds of veal; coarse sea salt; black pepper; 1 butter cracker; liquid (such as broth or water)

Why it works: Veal and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,049 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Pressed Veal

Ingredients

Directions

Place the veal in a pot with a small amount of water and a little coarse sea salt.
Cook until the veal is tender.
Remove from heat and discard all bones and stringy parts.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper to taste.
Crush the butter cracker finely and mix it with the liquid.
Pour the mixture over the meat before placing it into the mold.

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.

Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,381 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).