Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Scotch Collops
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Cut the veal into thin pieces about 3 inches long and round.
Beat the pieces with a rolling pin.
Sprinkle the pieces with nutmeg.
Dip the pieces into the egg yolk.
Fry and make the sauce
Fry the pieces in butter until golden brown.
Remove excess butter and keep warm.
Prepare the gravy by mixing it with flour, egg yolk, cream, and salt.
Stir the sauce until thickened.
Serve
Serve the sauce over the collops.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked into thin, tender pieces.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the sauce and adds richness to its texture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and smoothness to the thickened sauce.
- Butter
- Fat for frying, giving the pieces golden browning and flavour.
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
The step that matters
Stir the sauce until thickened. Flour starch thickens as it heats, but stirring keeps it smooth and prevents lumps; egg yolk can curdle if the sauce boils, so keep it gently heated.
“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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