Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Scorched Collops
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the collops
Cut veal cutlets into small, thin pieces.
Fry them in a little boiling lard until light brown.
Drain the cutlets and place them in a stewpan.
Stew and serve
Add cullis, stewed mushrooms, truffles, morels, artichoke bottoms, sweetbreads, and egg balls.
Simmer over low heat until tender, seasoning to taste.
Serve with rashers of broiled bacon around the dish.
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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Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,900 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + artichoketop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together447 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Veal + truffletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together815 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Truffle + artichoketop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together240 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Meat + truffletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together527 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal cutlets
- Provides the tender meat that is the base of the dish.
- Lard
- Fries the veal, creating a light brown surface and rich flavour.
- Cullis
- Meat sauce that moistens the veal and carries the savoury flavour through the stew.
- Morels
- Add earthy, concentrated mushroom aroma to the stewed mixture.
- Sweetbreads
- Contribute a soft, delicate texture that contrasts with the firmer veal.
The step that matters
Frying the cutlets until light brown. Browning the thin veal pieces in hot fat creates flavourful Maillard browning on the surface. Overcooking them at this stage toughens the meat before the long simmer.
“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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