Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Veal Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook
Select a piece of veal and season with coarse sea salt.
Stew the veal until tender.
Add vegetables and thicken
Add the celery pieces to the pot.
Add the diced potatoes and parsley.
Use flour to thicken the broth, ensuring it covers all ingredients.
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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Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,047 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Celery + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,905 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Becomes tender through slow stewing, forming the main body of the dish.
- Potatoes
- Soften during stewing and add starch and body to the stew.
- Flour
- Thickens the broth as it cooks, giving the stew a smoother body.
The step that matters
Use flour to thicken the broth. Flour must be evenly distributed in the liquid, or it clumps and leaves pockets of raw starch. Stirring it in well lets the starch swell and thicken the broth smoothly as it simmers.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, celery, parsley, flour):
- Carrotfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, celery, parsley, flour. 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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