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 ↓
Veal Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Dredge the veal cutlets in a little flour.
In a pan, melt ½ cup of butter until browned.
Pour in enough boiling water to make a gravy.
Season the gravy with pepper, coarse sea salt, and a little lemon juice.
Bring the gravy to a boil and pour it over the cutlets.
Garnish with slices of broiled bacon and forcemeat balls.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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 cutlets
- The main protein, which stays tender when cooked gently under the gravy.
- Flour
- Dry coating that helps the cutlets brown and gives the gravy body.
- Butter
- Fat that carries flavor and, once browned, adds a nutty, savory depth to the gravy.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich, buttery gravy.
The step that matters
Melting the butter until browned. Butter browns quickly, and once the milk solids pass golden they turn bitter and burnt. Watch the pan closely and remove it from heat at the right colour, because a burnt flavour carries into the whole gravy.
“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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