Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Veal Patties
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Combine veal and salt pork in a pot. Stew gently for 10‑15 minutes.
Season the stew with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and chopped celery. Stir in flour, egg yolk, and milk to form a thin batter.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Assemble and serve
Roll out the pastry and cut into rounds the size of small saucers.
Cut halfway through the center of each round to create a cover.
Place a spoonful of the stew in each pastry crust, cover with the top, and serve.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Veal + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,930 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Pork + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,386 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Celery + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,905 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Forms the main meat body of the filling, becoming tender as it stews gently.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that enriches the stew.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid so the stew holds together rather than running out of the crust.
- Egg yolk
- Helps bind the mixture and adds richness and body as it thickens with heat.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that, with flour and egg yolk, forms a thin, creamy batter.
The step that matters
Bring the mixture to a boil. Flour and egg yolk thicken only when heated enough; boiling activates the starch and lets the yolk set, so the filling stays thick rather than watery inside the crust.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pork, pepper, flour, egg, milk):
- Nutmegfits better
- Sagefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, pepper, flour, egg, milk. 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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