Name: Veal Cutlets a LA Bordelaise
Ingredients: Veal cutlets; Coarse sea salt; Black pepper; 1 shallot, minced; 2 tablespoons parsley, minced; 1 egg; Breadcrumbs; Butter

Why it works: Shallot and parsley 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 ↓

Veal Cutlets a LA Bordelaise

Ingredients

Directions

Trim the veal cutlets and season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Cover the cutlets with a light stuffing of minced shallots, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Dip the stuffed cutlets in beaten egg and then coat with breadcrumbs.
Butter a stewpan and cook the cutlets slowly until done.
Arrange the cutlets in a ring on a plate and pour Sauce Bordelaise into the center.

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.

Shallot + parsleytop 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).
Pepper + shallottop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,898 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Shallot + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the shallot

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

Carrotfits about as well
Shallotthe original
Capsicumfits about as well
Chivefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, parsley, egg, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.