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 in Light Gravy with Parsley
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub the veal with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Braise
Melt the butter in a kettle.
Add the veal and turn it several times.
Immediately add the stock or boiling water and meat extract.
Stir in the chopped parsley and flour dissolved in water.
Boil for a moment, then place in the Caloric for 1 to 1.5 hours.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Butter + meattop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Is the main cut that becomes tender during slow, moist cooking in the gravy.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the veal brown lightly in the kettle.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock into a light gravy as it heats.
- Meat extract
- Adds concentrated savory meaty flavor to the stock.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, butter, meat, flour):
- Parsleythe original
- Sagefits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, butter, meat, 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.
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