Why it works: Lemon and parsley 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 Cutlets a LA Dreux
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Season the veal cutlets with salt and pepper.
Dredge the cutlets in flour.
Cook and serve
Heat butter in a pan over medium heat.
Cook the cutlets until golden brown on both sides.
Drizzle with lemon juice and garnish with parsley before serving.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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 cutlets
- Main protein that is cooked until tender and browned on the outside.
- Butter
- Fat that conducts heat in the pan and promotes golden browning of the flour coating.
- Flour
- Light coating that helps the cutlet surface brown and gives a slightly crisp exterior.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich, buttery flavour of the cutlets.
The step that matters
Cook the cutlets until golden brown on both sides. Flour-dredged meat browns through the Maillard reaction, which needs a hot, dry surface. Crowding the pan or moving the cutlets too early traps steam, leaving them pale and soft instead of golden.
“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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