Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Blanquette De Veau
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Soak the veal pieces in a bowl of vinegar and water for 1 hour to draw out the blood.
Simmer the veal in water for about 1 hour and 30 minutes until very tender.
Remove the veal from the pot.
Strain the broth.
Make the sauce
Make a white roux.
Stir the boiling broth into the roux until thickened.
Add lemon juice, nutmeg, salt, and cayenne to the sauce.
Return the veal to the sauce.
Let the veal stew gently over boiling water for 30 minutes.
Dish the meat neatly.
Bring the sauce to a boil.
Beat the egg yolks with the cream in a bowl. Pour some hot sauce over the beaten egg mixture. Remove the sauce from heat. Stir the egg mixture into the sauce.
Serve
Pour the sauce over the veal.
Garnish with croutons, sliced lemon, and parsley.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,477 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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 through long, gentle simmering.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the sauce and give it a rich, smooth texture when gently heated.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat, softening the sauce's flavour and mouthfeel.
- Vinegar
- Acidity that helps draw out blood from the veal before cooking.
The step that matters
Stir the egg mixture into the sauce. Egg yolks scramble if the sauce is too hot. Pouring some hot sauce into the yolks first tempers them, and removing the pan from heat before stirring in the mixture keeps the sauce smooth and thick.
“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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