Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Minced Veal
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Trim the skin and fat from the veal and cut it into small squares.
Mix the veal with mace and lemon rind, and dredge with flour.
Make the stock
Combine veal trimmings, stock, lemon rind, parsley, and thyme in a saucepan; cover and stew gently for 1 hour.
Let the mixture cool and remove the fat.
Make the sauce and serve
Melt butter in a stewpan, mix with flour, add stock and milk, and stir until boiling.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper, add cream if desired, then stir in the minced veal and heat through.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,973 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 tender meat that forms the body of the dish.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and adds richness to its flavour.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce with the butter as a roux.
- Veal stock
- Supplies the liquid and savoury flavour for the stew and sauce.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and body to the white sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring the sauce until boiling. Flour thickens the liquid only when it reaches a boil and is stirred, so stopping early leaves the sauce thin and floury-tasting.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, lemon, flour, parsley, thyme, butter, milk):
- Marjoramfits better
- Sagefits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, lemon, flour, parsley, thyme, butter, milk. 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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