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Veal, Pricandeau

A slow‑cooked veal stew with bacon, vegetables, herbs, and a glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Veal, Pricandeau

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the veal

  1. Trim the veal and make 2‑3 slits in the middle for seasoning.

  2. Lard the veal thickly with fat bacon.

Braise

  1. In a stewpan, layer the sliced vegetables, herbs, and spices, topping with bacon.

  2. Place the veal over the bacon and sprinkle with salt.

  3. Add enough stock to cover the bacon without touching the veal.

  4. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently over low heat for about 2½ hours.

  5. Baste frequently with the liquid.

Finish and serve

  1. Before serving, place in a brisk oven to firm the exterior.

  2. Dish the fricandeau and keep hot.

  3. Skim the fat from the liquid and reduce it to a glaze.

  4. Glaze the fricandeau and serve with seasonal vegetables.

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.

  1. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Onion + macetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through long, gentle simmering.
Fat bacon
Larding and layering add moisture and richness, basting the meat as it renders.
Carrots
Flavour base in the stock, adding gentle sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid.
Onions
Flavour base in the stock, adding savoury depth and aroma to the braising liquid.

The step that matters

Simmering the veal gently. A rolling boil toughens the meat and can break up the surface, while gentle simmering lets collagen soften slowly and keeps the veal moist and tender.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, carrot, onion, mace):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, onion, mace. 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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