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Veal Loaf

A baked loaf of ground veal and salt pork seasoned with lemon, spices, butter, onion, eggs, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Grind the veal and salt pork twice.

Shape the loaf

  1. Mix in lemon juice, lemon rind, nutmeg, cloves, thyme, marjoram, butter, grated onion, beaten eggs, salt, and cayenne.

  2. Mold the mixture into a loaf shape.

Bake

  1. Place the loaf in a pan with a little water.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 2 hours, basting frequently.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Lemon + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Nutmeg + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal
Forms the main body of the loaf, giving it a meaty, sliceable texture.
Salt pork
Adds fat that keeps the lean veal moist as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the loaf.

The step that matters

Basting during the bake. Veal is very lean and dries out easily in the oven. Regular basting keeps the surface moist and helps prevent a dry, tough loaf over the two-hour bake.

“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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