Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Veal and Ham Pie
Ingredients
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare the pastry and line a pie dish.
Cut the veal and ham into convenient pieces.
Make the mushroom sauce
Sweat the minced mushrooms and parsley in butter with a little flour.
Add the stock or water and ketchup.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then set aside.
Assemble and bake
Layer the veal and ham in the pastry-lined dish.
Pour the mushroom mixture over the meat.
Cover with pastry.
Bake for two hours, using buttered paper on top.
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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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,132 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + ketchuptop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,435 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they 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
- Veal
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender during the long, slow bake.
- Ham or bacon
- Adds savory, salty flavor and a richer meat taste to the filling.
- Button mushrooms
- Contribute earthy flavor and moisture to the sauce that surrounds the meat.
- Butter
- Carries the flavor of the mushrooms and parsley while they soften.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the stock into a sauce that holds the filling together.
- Stock or water
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce and keeps the meat moist as it bakes.
The step that matters
Bring the mixture to a boil, then set aside. The flour must be cooked through in the hot liquid to thicken the sauce fully and remove any raw starch taste. Boiling also ensures the sauce is hot enough to start cooking the meat once it is poured over the layers.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, mushroom, butter, flour, ketchup):
- Capersfits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Marjoramfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, mushroom, butter, flour, ketchup. 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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