Name: Pot-au-Feu
Ingredients: 1 small teaspoon salt; 1 large bunch of savory herbs; 1 calf's foot (optional); Fresh meat (including veal); Beef; Glaze (optional); 1 small ham (well soaked and cleaned)

Why it works: Veal and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Pot-au-Feu

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base broth

Simmer the calf's foot and savory herbs in water for 5 to 6 hours.
Add the small ham to the pot when first adding water and boil for 3.5 to 4 hours.

Use the broth

Use this broth as a base for soups and gravies.
Add fresh meat, including veal, to the broth instead of water for a consomme or jellied stock.
For a gravy-soup, add additional beef and some glaze.
Truss and stew poultry, pigeons, or game in the broth until tender.

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.

Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Meat + beeftop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,533 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,095 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Beef + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,729 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's foot: Adds gelatin, giving the broth body and a jellied texture when chilled.
Fresh meat: Releases flavor and protein into the broth, enriching it for consomme or jellied stock.
Small ham: Contributes salty, smoky flavor to the broth as it simmers for several hours.

“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.