Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
And the Meat Served with Onion Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the cow-heel
Buy a dressed cow-heel from a tripe shop.
Cut the cow-heel into small pieces.
Place the pieces in a saucepan with 1 quart of milk and 2 inches of cinnamon.
Cover the saucepan with a lid and tie it down with paper.
Cook and set the milk
Put the saucepan in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for at least 3 hours.
If no oven is available, place the saucepan by the fire to stew.
After stewing, remove the saucepan, strain the milk into a basin, and sweeten to taste.
Set the milk aside until it forms a jelly, which can be eaten hot or cold.
Make the onion sauce
Peel and quarter the onions.
Boil the onions in a saucepan with ½ pint of milk until tender, about 1 hour.
Strain the milk into a basin, chop the onions finely.
Melt ½ oz. of butter in the saucepan over heat.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cinnamon and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,779 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cow-heel
- Breaks down during long stewing into gelatin, which makes the milk set to a jelly.
- Milk
- Forms the base of both the jelly and the onion sauce, carrying the flavour and moisture.
- Onions
- Soften during boiling and give the sauce its body and sweet, savoury flavour.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the onion sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the onion sauce by absorbing liquid as it cooks with the butter.
The step that matters
Long, gentle stewing of the cow-heel. Low, slow heat over at least 3 hours is needed to slowly convert the connective tissue into gelatin. Rushing with higher heat can scorch the milk and fail to produce a set jelly.
“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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