Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 34,118 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Blanquette of Veal
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the flour and stir until smooth.
Pour in the stock and cream, stirring until the sauce thickens.
Finish and serve
Add the veal and chopped mushrooms, cooking for a few minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the egg yolks and parsley, cooking for an additional minute.
Garnish with whole mushrooms 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + mushroomtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together12,516 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Veal + mushroomtop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,446 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
-
Mushroom + peppertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13,578 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 the sauce coats and the dish is built around.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and stock into a smooth, stable sauce.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the sauce.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the sauce when stirred in off the heat.
- Button mushrooms
- Add earthy flavor and a tender, meaty texture.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolks off the heat. Egg yolks thicken by gentle coagulation. If the sauce is too hot when they are added, they can scramble and turn grainy, so remove the pan from the heat first and stir steadily.
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, egg, flour, cream, mushroom, pepper):
- Nutmegabout as good a flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
- Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, egg, flour, cream, mushroom, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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