Why it works: Potato and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,611 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Veal Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stew
Boil the veal in enough water to cover for 1 hour.
Add the potatoes and cook for an additional 30 minutes.
Before removing from heat, stir in the milk and enough flour to thicken.
Season to taste.
Assemble the pie
If desired, prepare a crust like one for chicken pie and bake it in 2 pie pans.
Place one crust on a platter, pour the stew over it, and top with the second crust.
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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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Veal + potatotop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together343 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Veal + milktop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Veal
- Provides the main meat and becomes tender during long gentle simmering.
- Potatoes
- Soften as they cook and add body and starch to the stew.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and richness to the thickened sauce.
- Flour
- Starch swells when heated in the liquid, thickening the stew.
The step that matters
Stir in the milk and flour before removing from heat. Flour must be stirred in evenly and heated so its starch swells and thickens the sauce. Adding it to cold liquid or unstirred creates lumps and a thin, pasty texture.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, milk, flour):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Leekfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Shallotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, milk, 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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