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A stew of ham and veal with broth, herbs, and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and celery 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 ↓

Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the glaze

  1. Pour 1 cup of broth into a pan and place over medium heat until reduced.

  2. Insert a knife into the meat and continue cooking gently until a glaze forms.

  3. Shake the stewpan frequently and watch the gravy to prevent burning.

Simmer the stew

  1. When the gravy is a deep amber color, add enough boiling broth to cover the meat.

  2. Add parsley, mushrooms, green onions, mace, white peppercorns, and celery.

  3. Simmer for 1 to 2 hours.

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. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  4. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + celerytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,006 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender during long gentle simmering.
Ham
Adds salty, savoury flavor to the stew and gravy.
Broth
Reduces to a concentrated glaze and then forms the liquid that cooks the meat.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavor and moisture to the stew.

The step that matters

Reducing the broth to a glaze. The broth must reduce slowly and be watched closely, because the sugars and proteins in the meat juices brown quickly and can scorch. Stirring or shaking prevents burning while the gravy turns a deep amber, which gives the stew its color and rich flavor.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, veal, parsley, onion, mushroom, celery):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, parsley, onion, mushroom, celery. 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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