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Veal Stew

A hearty stew of veal and rice simmered with salt, cayenne, mace, and optional vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Veal Stew

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, add veal and water, then bring to a simmer.

  2. Add salt and simmer for about 30 minutes.

  3. Stir in the washed rice and continue to stew gently for 1.5 hours until both the meat and rice are tender.

  4. Season with cayenne and mace 20 to 30 minutes before serving.

  5. For a richer flavor, substitute veal broth for water.

  6. Optionally, add green peas after skimming off the scum.

  7. You can also add sliced cucumbers or shredded lettuces when it boils, or green onions for extra flavor.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cucumber + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,409 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Rice + cucumbertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together734 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Peas + cucumbertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 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

Veal
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender and flavorful during long, gentle stewing.
Rice
Absorbs liquid and softens, thickening the stew and adding body.

The step that matters

Stew gently until the meat and rice are tender. A rolling boil toughens meat proteins and can break rice apart. A slow simmer lets collagen soften and starch absorb liquid evenly.

Swap the peas

The recipe marks peas as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, rice, pepper, mace, cucumber, lettuce, onion):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Sesamefits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, rice, pepper, mace, cucumber, lettuce, onion. 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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