Why it works: Nutmeg and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Scotch Collops
Ingredients
Directions
Cut veal into thin bits about 3 inches long and round.
Beat the veal with a rolling pin.
Grate a little nutmeg over the veal.
Dip the veal into the yolk of an egg.
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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Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Veal + nutmegtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,542 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,845 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg):
- Nutmegthe original
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Capersfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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