Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Veal with Parsley Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
If the meat is not one compact piece, bind it into a good shape with tape.
Melt the butter in a stewpan.
Fry the meat gently until lightly browned on all sides.
Braise
Add the white sauce.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cover the stewpan closely.
Simmer gently for 2 to 2½ hours.
Remove the meat from the stewpan.
Keep the meat hot.
Finish the sauce and serve
Strain the sauce.
Return the strained sauce to the stewpan.
Add the parsley.
Add the lemon juice.
Add the yolk of egg.
Stir until the sauce thickens.
Pour the sauce over the veal.
Serve.
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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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Fillet of veal
- Is the main cut that is browned and slowly simmered until tender.
- White sauce
- Forms the base of the sauce that coats and moistens the veal.
- Yolk of egg
- Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it a smooth, rich body.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich sauce and balances its richness.
- Butter
- Fat used to brown the outside of the meat and add richness.
The step that matters
Stir the yolk into the sauce until it thickens. Egg yolk thickens when heated gently but can curdle or scramble if the sauce boils. Keep the heat low and stir constantly so the sauce becomes smooth rather than grainy.
“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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