Why it works: Marjoram and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 957 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
To Stew Veal That Has Been Dressed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Place the veal slices in a stew-pan and cover with water or broth.
Season the veal with pepper, coarse sea salt, nutmeg, mace, sweet marjoram, shallot, and lemon thyme or grated lemon peel.
Make the sauce
Stew until almost done, then add good gravy, mushroom liquor, and lemon juice.
Let it stew a little longer, then strain off the liquid.
Thicken the liquid with butter and flour.
Serve
Place the meat in a dish and pour the sauce over it.
Garnish with sippets, fried oysters or bits of broiled bacon, and sliced lemon.
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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Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together687 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Marjoram + shallottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together287 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Forms the main body of the stew, becoming tender through slow simmering in liquid.
- Butter and flour
- Together they thicken the strained liquid into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
- Good gravy
- Adds savoury depth and body to the stewing liquid.
- Mushroom liquor
- Contributes earthy, savoury flavour to the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich sauce.
The step that matters
Thicken the liquid with butter and flour. Flour must be cooked into the butter and liquid to avoid raw starch taste and lumps, and the sauce should be kept at a gentle simmer so it thickens smoothly without scorching.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, nutmeg, marjoram, shallot, lemon, mushroom):
- Thymefits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Winter savoryfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, nutmeg, marjoram, shallot, lemon, mushroom. 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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