Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Veal Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stew
Wash the veal pieces and place them in a stew pan with 2 quarts of water.
Bring to a boil and skim off any scum.
Add salt, pepper, and a small piece of butter to taste.
Add the halved potatoes to the stew pan.
Make the dumplings and cook
In a bowl, mix the eggs, cream or milk, a little salt, and enough flour to make a batter thicker than pancake batter.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the boiling stew.
Cover the pan tightly to prevent steam from escaping and boil for 20 minutes.
Serve in a deep dish.
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.
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 meat and savory body of the stew as it simmers.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter so the spoonfuls set into soft dumplings in the broth.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter so it holds its shape when dropped into boiling stew.
- Cream or milk
- Adds moisture and tenderness to the batter, softening the dumplings.
- Potatoes
- Add starch that bulks up the stew and partly thickens the broth as they cook.
The step that matters
Drop the batter into the boiling stew. The batter must be thick enough to hold its shape. If it is too thin, it disperses into the broth instead of forming dumplings. Keep the stew at a boil and cover the pan so steam cooks the dumplings through.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, butter, egg, cream, flour):
- Leekfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, butter, egg, cream, flour. 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.
More veal stew recipes
You might also like
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipes
Potato Chips53 recipes
Sweet Potato Croquettes53 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.