Name: Veal Omelet
Ingredients: 2 pounds veal steak, finely chopped; 8 crackers, rolled; ½ cup butter; 3 eggs, well beaten; ½ pint cold water; salt to taste; sage to taste; pepper to taste

Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Mix and bake

In a large bowl, mix the chopped veal, rolled crackers, butter, beaten eggs, cold water, salt, sage, and pepper until well combined.
Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and bake for 1 hour.

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.

Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Veal + sagetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together670 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter + sagetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,312 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (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 and provides most of its substance.
Crackers: Absorb liquid and help bind the mixture so it holds together when baked.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, keeping the baked mixture moist and tender.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and set as it bakes, giving the dish its firm structure.