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Blanquette of Veal

A veal stew simmered in broth and finished with cream, served with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Blanquette of Veal

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the veal

  1. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent.

  3. Add the veal cubes and brown on all sides.

  4. Sprinkle flour over the veal and stir to coat.

Braise and finish

  1. Pour in the beef broth, bring to a simmer, and cover.

  2. Cook for 1.5 hours until the veal is tender.

  3. Stir in the heavy cream, season with salt and pepper, and heat through.

  4. Garnish with chopped parsley before serving.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 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 meat that becomes tender during long, gentle simmering.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a light sauce as it coats the veal.
Heavy cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the finished sauce.
Beef broth
Forms the cooking liquid that braises the veal and builds the sauce flavor.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor for sautéing the onion and browning the veal.

The step that matters

Browning the veal. Browning the veal cubes on all sides creates savory flavors through the Maillard reaction. Crowding the pot or stirring too little causes steaming instead, leaving the meat pale and less flavorful.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, onion, beef, cream, flour, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, onion, beef, cream, flour, pepper. 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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