Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Stuffed Vegetable Marrows
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the marrows
Select and scrape out the seeds and some pulp from the marrows.
Dust with salt and let sit for 15 minutes.
Drain the marrows and wipe them dry.
Stuff with pounded veal or chicken.
Cook
Melt butter in a stewpan over medium heat.
Fry the marrows until browned.
Pour stock over the marrows to cover and simmer gently until cooked.
Drain the marrows and place on a hot dish.
Make the sauce and serve
Mix flour with a small amount of water, then stir into the cooking liquid.
Squeeze in lemon juice and add salt.
Heat the sauce until thickened and boiling.
Pour over the marrows and serve hot.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + vealtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,381 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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
- Vegetable marrows
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and mild when simmered.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness and helps the marrows brown when fried.
- Veal or chicken flesh
- Provides a savoury, meaty filling that flavours the marrows as they cook.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth sauce when stirred in and heated to boiling.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the meat and butter.
The step that matters
Heat the sauce until thickened and boiling. Flour only thickens properly once the liquid reaches a boil, so the starch swells fully. Stirring the flour in as a smooth slurry first prevents lumps. Lemon juice added before boiling can thin the sauce slightly, so the sauce should be checked for thickness before serving.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, veal, flour):
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Coconutfits less well
- Peachfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, veal, flour. 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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