Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Veal Stewed with Apples
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Grease a stewpan with butter.
Cook
Add the thinly sliced veal, coarse sea salt, black pepper, and sliced apples.
If desired, add some sliced onion.
Cover the stewpan tightly and cook until the veal is tender.
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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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + appletop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,026 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Thin slices become tender through slow, moist cooking that breaks down its connective tissue.
- Apples
- Soften as they cook, adding moisture, natural sweetness and a touch of acidity to the stew.
The step that matters
Cover the stewpan tightly and cook until the veal is tender. A tight lid traps steam so the veal cooks gently in its own moisture. A loose lid or high heat dries and toughens the meat before it becomes tender.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, veal, pepper, apple):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, veal, pepper, apple. 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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