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Veal Cutlets with Vermicelli

Veal cutlets coated in breadcrumbs or cheese, fried, served with vermicelli mixed in tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Veal Cutlets with Vermicelli

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Remove all fat from the veal cutlets, leaving the small rib intact.

  2. Season the cutlets, then dip them in beaten eggs and breadcrumbs.

  3. Alternatively, dip the cutlets in melted butter, then in a mixture of equal parts grated cheese and breadcrumbs.

  4. Let the coating absorb for two hours.

Cook and serve

  1. Fry the cutlets in plenty of butter until golden brown.

  2. Meanwhile, boil the vermicelli in salted water until tender, then drain.

  3. Mix the cooked vermicelli with tomato sauce.

  4. Arrange the vermicelli in the center of a serving platter and place the cutlets around it.

  5. Serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cheese + tomatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,896 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,469 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Eggs
Bind the breadcrumb coating so it adheres to the cutlets during frying.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating on the outside of the cutlets.
Melted butter
Carries the coating and adds fat that promotes browning and flavour in frying.
Grated cheese
Adds savoury flavour and helps the coating brown when fried.
Vermicelli
Forms the starchy base that the cutlets are served around.
Tomato sauce
Adds moisture and acidity to the vermicelli.

The step that matters

Let the coating absorb for two hours. Resting lets the egg or butter coating moisten and adhere to the cutlet surface, so the breadcrumbs stay attached rather than falling off during frying.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg, butter, cheese, sauce):

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, butter, cheese, sauce. 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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