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Collops, Scotch.

Veal collops simmered in a gravy of butter, flour, water, onion, mace, lemon, sherry, and mushroom ketchup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sherry and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Collops, Scotch.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the veal

  1. Cut the veal into pieces the same thickness as cutlets, slightly larger than a crown piece.

  2. Flour the meat well and fry in butter until light brown.

Make the gravy

  1. Dredge again with flour and gradually add ½ pint of water.

  2. Set on the fire and when it boils, add the onion and mace.

  3. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Flavor the gravy with lemon juice, lemon peel, sherry, and ketchup.

  2. Bring to a boil and serve.

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. Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,446 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, 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
Provides the main meat; cooked slowly in the gravy so it becomes tender.
Flour
Coats the meat for browning and thickens the water into a gravy.
Butter
Fries the floured meat, adding fat for browning and rich flavor.
Onion
Contributes savory flavor to the simmering gravy.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the gravy and balances its richness.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds concentrated savory, umami flavor to the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for about 30 minutes. A gentle simmer keeps the meat tender and the floured gravy smooth. A hard boil can toughen the meat and make the sauce lumpy or uneven.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, flour, onion, lemon, sherry, mushroom):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, flour, onion, lemon, sherry, mushroom. 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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