Why it works: Tomato and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,797 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the cutlets
Cook and press the calf's feet as in the preceding recipe.
When cold, cut the calf's feet into pear or cutlet shapes.
Spread one side of each cutlet with quenelle meat mixed with truffles, heaping the mixture in the center of the cutlet and smoothing it with a knife dipped in hot water.
Cover each cutlet with a piece of pig's caul.
Bake and fry
Place the cutlets on a greased sauté pan and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the quenelle meat is cooked.
Dip the baked cutlets in egg and coat with bread crumbs twice.
Fry the breaded cutlets in hot fat.
Serve
Serve the cutlets on a border of mashed potatoes, pour tomato sauce over, and place vegetables in the center.
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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Tomato + potatotop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,797 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + peastop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + potatotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,016 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Tomato + breadtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Meat + truffletop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together527 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Calf's feet
- Provide the main body of the cutlets once cooked, pressed and cut into shape.
- Quenelle meat
- Forms a soft, delicate filling that cooks through and sets during baking.
- Egg
- Binds the bread crumbs to the cutlets so the coating adheres during frying.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating when fried in hot fat.
- Pig's caul
- Wraps each cutlet, holding the filling in place and adding moisture during baking.
The step that matters
Coating with egg and bread crumbs. The cutlets must be dry and firmly coated before frying. Egg proteins set to bind the crumbs, and a second coat gives an even, crisp crust that resists splitting in hot fat.
Flavor stand-ins for the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, truffle, tomato, sauce, potato, egg, bread):
- Beansabout as good a flavor fit
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, truffle, tomato, sauce, potato, egg, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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