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Marbled Veal

A baked cold loaf of marbled veal with eggs, ham, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Marbled Veal

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 the veal

  1. Place the veal and scraps in a pot, cover with cold water, and boil until tender.

  2. Remove the veal, leaving the scraps and bone to stew longer.

Layer and bake

  1. Slice the cold veal and layer it in a mould with sliced egg, salt, pepper, marjoram, ham, and a light dusting of flour.

  2. Reserve some egg slices for the top border.

  3. Press the layers gently together and pour in the stock from the kettle.

  4. If no stock is available, stir in melted gelatine.

  5. Cover the mould and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 hours.

Cool and serve

  1. Let it cool, then turn out from the mould and serve cold the next day.

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. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Marjoram + flourtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,265 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long gentle boiling and then firms when cooled.
Eggs
Sliced eggs add visual structure and a firm, mild texture to the layers.
Flour
A light dusting thickens the liquid around the layers so the filling holds together when sliced.
Gelatine
Sets the stock as it cools, helping the cold loaf hold its shape when turned out.

The step that matters

Press the layers gently together. Firm but gentle pressing removes air pockets and lets the stock fill the gaps, so the cold loaf sets solid and slices cleanly rather than crumbling.

Swap the marjoram

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg, pepper, ham, flour):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Turmericfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Marjoramthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, pepper, ham, 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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