Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Veal Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Layer
Layer veal in the bottom of a kettle and sprinkle with salt and a little pepper.
Add a layer of potato slices on top of the veal.
Repeat layering veal and potatoes, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper.
On the last layer of veal, add a layer of sliced salt pork.
Cover with the remaining potato slices.
Cook
Pour in water until it rises 1 inch above the ingredients.
Cover the kettle tightly and heat for 15 minutes.
Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.
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 + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Veal + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,930 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Provides the meat that becomes tender and rich during long, moist simmering.
- Potatoes
- Thicken the broth as their starch releases and soften into the stew.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that seasons the broth and meat.
The step that matters
Reduce heat and simmer. Once the kettle is covered and hot, the liquid must be kept at a gentle simmer. A hard boil toughens the meat proteins and can break up the potatoes, while a gentle simmer lets the veal become tender.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, pork):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatothe original
- Tomatofits about as well
- Carrotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, pork. 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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