Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Veal Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Wipe the veal, remove bone and skin, and cut into serving pieces.
Skewer small pieces together with toothpicks.
Cover bones and skin with cold water, heat slowly, and cook below boiling to make stock for gravy.
Season the veal pieces with salt and pepper.
Coat and brown
Roll the veal in flour, then dip in beaten eggs, and coat with breadcrumbs.
Brown the cutlets in hot dripping in a frying pan or deep fat if crumbed.
Braise and finish
Place the browned cutlets in a deep saucepan or casserole and add gravy.
Cook below boiling for 1 hour or until tender.
Add Worcestershire sauce and parsley before serving.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Veal + parsleytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,766 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,078 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 meat that becomes tender during slow cooking below boiling.
- Eggs
- Bind the flour and breadcrumb coating so it adheres to the veal.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, browned crust when fried.
- Flour
- Dries the meat surface so the egg and crumb coating sticks and browns.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base of the gravy that keeps the cutlets moist while cooking.
- Worcestershire sauce
- Adds savoury, tangy flavour to the gravy near the end of cooking.
The step that matters
Cook below boiling. Simmering gently below a boil keeps the liquid from toughening the meat. Vigorous boiling makes muscle fibres contract and dries the cutlets, while slow cooking lets connective tissue soften.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, flour, egg, sauce):
- Capersfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, flour, egg, sauce. 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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