Name: Veal and Ham Pie
Ingredients: 1 lb veal, trimmed and cut into scallops; 1 lb ham, trimmed and cut into scallops; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 handful mushrooms, finely chopped; 1 handful parsley, finely chopped; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 shallot, finely chopped; 2 cups Veloute sauce or good stock; 6 hard-boiled egg yolks; Puff pastry for covering

Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

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.

Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal: Forms the main meat body of the pie, giving it a firm, sliceable texture when cooked.
Ham: Adds savoury, salty flavour and a firmer bite alongside the veal.
Veloute sauce or stock: Supplies liquid that moistens the meat and carries flavour through the filling as it cooks.
Puff pastry: Forms a crisp, flaky, golden crust that browns as it bakes over the filling.
Hard-boiled egg yolks: Add richness and a soft, creamy texture contrasting with the meat.

“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.