Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Breast of Veal, with Green Peas
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and brown
Cut the breast of veal into pieces.
Fry the pieces with the shredded onion until light brown.
Simmer and finish
Transfer the browned pieces to a stewpan and add stock.
Allow to simmer until nearly done.
Add green peas, pepper, salt, and lemon juice or vinegar.
Keep the cover off and serve as soon as the peas are done.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,005 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Onion + peastop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,460 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,331 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Breast of veal
- Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender during simmering.
- Onion
- Browns during frying to add savoury sweetness and aroma to the base.
- Stock
- Provides moisture for the simmer and carries flavour into the meat.
- Green peas
- Add sweetness, colour and soft texture to the finished dish.
- Lemon juice or vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the rich meat and peas.
The step that matters
Keep the cover off and serve as soon as the peas are done. Leaving the lid off lets liquid reduce and keeps the peas bright green. Overcooked peas turn dull and mushy, so timing matters.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, peas, pepper, lemon):
- Asparagusfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, peas, pepper, lemon. 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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