Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Veal, Croquettes of
Ingredients
Directions
Chop the cold veal finely.
Boil the bones and trimmings to make stock.
Melt the butter or dripping in a saucepan.
Add the flour and stir until combined.
Pour in the stock and stir until it boils.
Boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes.
Add the veal, parsley, lemon rind, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to the sauce.
Stir well over the heat until combined.
Let the mixture cool, then form into cork-shaped croquettes.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, flour, lemon, parsley, egg, pepper):
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, flour, lemon, parsley, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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