Why it works: Pepper and laurel are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,666 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Neck of Veal Stewed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Lard the neck of veal with square pieces of ham or bacon rubbed in shallots, spices, pepper, and coarse sea salt.
Stew
Place the veal in a stewpan with 3 pints of white stock, a bay leaf, and 2 onions.
Add 2 teaspoons of brandy or whiskey and stew until tender.
Serve
Dish the meat. Strain the gravy. Pour the gravy over the joint. Serve.
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.
-
Pepper + laureltop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,666 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Shallot + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Laurel + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,335 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,898 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Neck of veal
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and flavorful through slow stewing.
- Ham or bacon
- Adds salty, savory fat that flavors the meat as it is larded into the joint.
- White stock
- Forms the liquid base of the stew and the gravy served with the meat.
- Onions
- Release sweetness and body into the stock during the long stew.
- Brandy or whiskey
- Adds aromatic depth to the stewing liquid.
The step that matters
Stew until tender. Veal neck is rich in connective tissue that only breaks down into gelatin with long, gentle simmering. Stopping early leaves the meat tough, and boiling hard can toughen the muscle fibers.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, shallot, pepper, laurel, brandy):
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, shallot, pepper, laurel, brandy. 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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