Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
A Richer Veal Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Cut steaks from the neck or breast of veal and season with pepper, coarse sea salt, nutmeg, and ground cloves.
Crush the bones very small and remove the shank bones.
Add small forcemeat balls and slices of hard-boiled eggs.
Lay pastry around the edge of the dish, then fill with the meat, eggs, forcemeat balls, and thin slices of ham or bacon.
Cover the top with pastry and lay a paper over it to prevent burning.
Brush the top with egg using a feather.
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 + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,264 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, nutmeg, egg, ham):
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, nutmeg, egg, ham. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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