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Fricandeau of Veal with Puree of Sorrel

A veal cut braised with stock, then topped with a sorrel purée and glazed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and sorrel match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 231 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Fricandeau of Veal with Puree of Sorrel

Ingredients

Directions

Braise the veal

  1. Remove sinews from the veal slice.

  2. Lard the surface with fat bacon or pork using a larding needle.

  3. Place the veal in a sauté pan with pieces of pork skin and sliced onion.

  4. Add a bunch of sweet herbs.

  5. Season with salt and pepper.

  6. Moisten with clear stock.

  7. Bring to a boil.

  8. Reduce heat and simmer gently for 2 hours, basting occasionally.

  9. Strain the cooking liquid into a basin.

  10. Skim off the fat.

Make the sauce

  1. In a stewpan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter.

  2. Mix in 1 tablespoon of flour and stir until well combined.

  3. Gradually add the strained cooking liquid.

  4. Boil until thickened, stirring constantly.

Make the sorrel purée

  1. Wash the sorrel thoroughly.

  2. Boil in salted water until tender.

  3. Drain and pass through a sieve.

  4. In a stewpan, melt 2 oz of butter.

  5. Mix in 2 oz of flour.

  6. Add the sorrel, tossing for a few minutes.

  7. Beat the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of water and stir into the sorrel.

  8. Season with salt and pepper.

  9. Press the sorrel into a border mold for a few minutes.

  10. Place in a bain-marie.

Finish and serve

  1. Glaze the larded part of the veal under a salamander.

  2. Place on a hot dish.

  3. Pour the sauce under the veal.

  4. Turn out the sorrel border onto the dish around the veal.

  5. Serve hot.

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. Flour + sorreltop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together231 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Pepper + sorreltop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together419 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Onion + sorreltop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together459 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  5. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of veal
Lean meat that becomes tender and moist during long, gentle simmering.
Fat bacon or pork
Larding adds fat that keeps the lean veal moist and flavourful as it cooks.
Butter
Fat that enriches the sauce and the sorrel purée, adding richness and smooth body.
Flour
Starch that thickens the butter into a roux, giving the sauce and purée body.
Sorrel
Leafy green whose tart acidity gives the purée a bright, sharp flavour.
Egg yolk
Emulsifying and thickening agent that enriches the sorrel purée and helps it set.

The step that matters

Simmer gently rather than boil. A rolling boil toughens the meat's proteins and drives off moisture, while gentle simmering breaks down connective tissue slowly, keeping the veal tender and the stock clear.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pork, pepper, butter, flour, sorrel, egg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, pepper, butter, flour, sorrel, egg. 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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