Name: Veal Broth
Ingredients: 1 knuckle of veal; 1 gallon water; 2 ounces rice or vermicelli; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 blade of mace

Why it works: Rice and mace work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 932 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Veal Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Stew the knuckle of veal in 1 gallon of water.
Add rice or vermicelli, salt, and a blade of mace.
Cook until the veal is tender.
Strain the broth 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.

Rice + macetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together932 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Veal + macetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,761 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Veal + ricetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,119 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Knuckle of veal: Provides the main flavor and body, releasing gelatin and savory compounds into the broth as it stews.
Rice or vermicelli: Adds starch that gives the broth a slightly thicker body and softer mouthfeel.