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Veal Loaf

A loaf made from chopped veal and pork mixed with cracker crumbs, sage, butter, spices, and egg, baked with liquid.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. In a large bowl, combine the chopped veal, chopped pork, powdered cracker crumbs, sage, butter, black pepper, mace, salt, and beaten egg. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  3. Form the mixture into a loaf shape and place it in a baking pan.

  4. Dredge the top with additional cracker crumbs and dot with small pieces of butter.

  5. Add about 1 quart of water or broth to the pan.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake the loaf in the oven for 3.5 hours, basting constantly.

  2. Once cooked, let it cool and pour any remaining liquid over the loaf before slicing.

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. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  2. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Veal + sagetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together670 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Chopped veal
Provides the main meaty structure and firm sliceable texture of the loaf.
Chopped pork
Adds fat and moisture, keeping the loaf juicy as it bakes.
Powdered cracker crumbs
Absorb juices and help bind the meat so the loaf holds its shape.
Egg
Binds the mixture together, helping it set firm when cooked.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing moisture and flavor to the loaf.

The step that matters

Basting constantly during the 3.5-hour bake. Frequent basting keeps the surface moist, since the long dry-heat bake can otherwise dry out lean meat. Liquid in the pan also gently steams the loaf, helping it stay tender.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pork, sage, butter, pepper, egg):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, sage, butter, pepper, egg. 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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