Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Veal
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a cool oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the veal
Season the breast of veal with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Skewer the breast of veal firmly in place and dust the meat with flour.
Roast
Roast the veal slowly in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about four hours, basting with butter.
Make the gravy
When done, transfer the gravy to a stew pan.
Add a piece of butter rolled in browned flour to the gravy.
If the gravy is insufficient, add a little more water and season with pepper and salt to taste.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,381 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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 breast
- Is the main cut that is roasted slowly until tender.
- Flour
- Dusting the meat helps form a browned crust and thickens the gravy.
- Butter
- Basting adds moisture and fat for browning; rolled in browned flour it thickens the gravy.
The step that matters
Roasting slowly for about four hours. Low, steady heat gives connective tissue time to break down so the veal turns tender rather than dry. Too high a heat toughens the lean meat and can scorch the flour crust before the inside is cooked through.
“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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