Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Collops, Scotch
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Cut veal into thin pieces about three inches long and round; beat with a rolling pin and grate a little nutmeg over them.
Dip the veal pieces into the egg yolk.
Fry and make the sauce
Fry the veal in butter until golden brown.
Pour off the butter and prepare the sauce by mixing gravy, flour rubbed with butter, egg yolk, cream, and salt.
Stir the sauce until it thickens, but do not boil it.
Serve
Serve the sauce warm over the collops.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Veal
- Provides the meat that is beaten thin and fried until golden brown.
- Egg yolk
- Thickens the sauce and gives it richness when stirred in gently.
- Butter
- Fries the veal to a golden brown crust and adds rich flavour.
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy-based sauce so it coats the collops.
- Cream
- Adds richness and smoothness to the sauce.
The step that matters
Stir the sauce until it thickens, but do not boil it. Egg yolk in the sauce can curdle and turn grainy if it overheats. Gentle stirring over low heat thickens it smoothly without scrambling the yolk.
“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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