Why it works: Butter and cream 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 veal into thin bits about 3 inches long and round.
Beat the veal with a rolling pin and grate a little nutmeg over them.
Dip the veal bits into the egg yolk.
Fry and make the sauce
Fry the veal in butter until golden brown.
Pour off the butter and prepare the sauce: mix gravy, butter‑flour mixture, egg yolk, cream, and salt.
Stir the sauce until it thickens, but do not boil it.
Serve
Serve the sauce warm 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.
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
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 meat, which becomes tender and golden when beaten thin and fried.
- Egg yolk
- Thickens the sauce and gives it a rich, smooth body when stirred in gently.
- Butter
- Fries the veal to a golden brown crust and adds rich flavour.
- Flour
- Combined with butter, it helps thicken the gravy into a smooth sauce.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a silky texture to the finished sauce.
- Gravy
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving savoury depth.
The step that matters
Stir the sauce until it thickens, but do not boil it. Egg yolks begin to scramble and curdle when overheated, so the sauce must be stirred over gentle heat and kept below boiling to stay smooth.
“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.
You might also like
Veal Patties50 recipes
Beef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.