Name: Breast or Scrag of Veal Stewed
Ingredients: Breast or scrag of veal; Coarse sea salt; Black pepper; Water (enough to cover the meat); Butter; Flour; Force-meat balls (dozen or more); Sweet herbs (10 sprigs each of common thyme and lemon thyme, 4 of marjoram, 20 of parsley, 2 of winter savoury or knotted marjoram); Young onions (bundle); Onions (2 or 3 large); Veal or chicken broth (or boiling water); Lemon peel (roll); Mace (2 blades, pounded); Cloves (6); Allspice (dozen); Black pepper (dozen); White wine (2 tablespoons); Lemon juice (1 tablespoon); Mushroom catsup (1 tablespoon); Rashers of ham or bacon (for garnish); Fried sausages (for garnish)

Why it works: Thyme and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,973 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,973 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,171 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal: Provides the meat that becomes tender during long, gentle simmering.
Butter: Enriches the gravy and, with flour, forms a roux that thickens it.
Flour: Thickens the gravy when cooked with butter, giving it body.
Force-meat balls: Add richness and body to the stew as they cook in the gravy.
White wine: Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich gravy.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that balances the richness of the gravy.

The step that matters

Thicken the gravy with butter and flour. Flour must cook in the fat before liquid is added, or it stays raw-tasting and lumpy. Cooking it briefly in butter forms a roux that thickens the gravy smoothly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, meat, butter, flour, thyme, lemon):

Shallotfits better
Leekfits better
Okrafits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, meat, butter, flour, thyme, lemon. 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.

Breast or Scrag of Veal Stewed