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Meat Ties

A stew of calf's foot cooked with gravy, herbs, and egg whites, finished with a cream and butter sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Meat Ties

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the jelly

  1. Season the calf's foot with herbs, onion, mace, and black pepper.

  2. Fill the dish with gravy.

  3. If using a raised crust, strain the gravy and cool it until it sets like jelly.

  4. Remove the fat from the jelly.

Make the custard

  1. Whip the egg whites.

  2. Boil the mixture.

  3. Strain through a fine sieve.

  4. Place fowl or veal bones in a dish.

  5. Scald the parsley in milk.

  6. Season the mixture.

Assemble and bake

  1. Add the mixture to the meat with the broth.

  2. Bake the dish.

  3. Raise the crust.

  4. Pour the scalded cream mixed with butter and flour into the dish.

  5. Stir to combine with the gravy.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + walnuttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together865 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + walnuttop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Calf's foot
Its natural gelatin helps the cooled stock set into a firm jelly.
Egg whites
Whipped whites add lightness and help clarify the mixture when strained.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, mellow texture to the finished dish.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the cream mixture so it binds with the gravy.
Onion
Contributes savoury aroma and depth to the seasoned meat and stock.

The step that matters

Strain and cool the gravy until it sets, then remove the fat. Gelatin from the calf's foot must set fully to form a firm jelly that can hold a raised crust. Removing the fat keeps the jelly clear, firm, and free of greasy layers.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, egg, milk, parsley, cream, walnut):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, egg, milk, parsley, cream, walnut. 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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