Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓
Veal Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Season the beaten eggs with mace, nutmeg, salt, pepper, marjoram, thyme, and parsley.
Dip the cutlets into the seasoned eggs.
Sift grated bread over the cutlets.
Fry and serve
Fry the cutlets in clarified butter until golden brown.
Serve with white sauce, forcemeat balls, and small mushrooms.
Garnish with fried parsley.
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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Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,973 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together687 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the seasoning and help the grated bread coating adhere to the cutlets.
- Grated bread
- Forms a crisp coating that browns during frying.
- Veal
- Provides the main meat for the cutlets, which stay tender when fried briefly.
The step that matters
Frying the cutlets in clarified butter until golden brown. Clarified butter has no milk solids, so it can heat to a higher temperature without burning. Frying at a steady heat browns the bread coating and cooks the veal through without scorching the crumbs.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg, nutmeg, pepper, marjoram, lemon, thyme):
- Parsleyfits better
- Winter savoryfits better
- Sagefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, nutmeg, pepper, marjoram, lemon, thyme. 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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