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Veal Stew, with Dumplings

A hearty stew of veal and potatoes served with dumplings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Veal Stew, with Dumplings

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stew

  1. In a kettle, combine veal, onions, salt, pepper, and enough water to just cover the meat.

  2. Simmer gently for about 1 hour until the meat is tender.

  3. Add potatoes and cook for an additional 30 minutes.

Make the dumplings

  1. For the dumplings, mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

  2. Rub in lard until well combined, then add enough milk to form a dough.

  3. Roll out the dough to 1 inch thick and cut into biscuit shapes.

  4. Place dumplings on a plate and set in a steamer over the stew.

  5. Steam dumplings for 20 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Once cooked, transfer meat and potatoes to a platter.

  2. Add milk and butter to the stew gravy, thicken with flour mixed with water, and pour over the meat and dumplings.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long, gentle simmering.
Flour
Thickens the gravy and gives the dumplings their structure.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the dough so the dumplings rise and turn light.
Lard
Adds fat that makes the dumpling dough tender and short.
Milk
Moistens the dumpling dough and enriches the gravy.
Potatoes
Absorb flavor from the stew and add body to the dish.

The step that matters

Steam the dumplings without lifting the lid. Lifting the lid lets steam escape and cools the surface, which can leave dumplings heavy and gummy. Steady steam cooks them through and lets the baking powder lift the dough.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, potato, butter, milk, pepper, flour):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, potato, butter, milk, pepper, 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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