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Veal Loaf

A loaf of finely chopped veal mixed with eggs, cream, crackers, and seasonings, baked until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage 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 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the loaf

  1. In a bowl, mix the eggs and cream (or milk) together.

  2. Combine the veal, pounded crackers, black pepper, coarse sea salt, and sage in a large bowl.

  3. Add the egg mixture to the veal mixture and mix well.

  4. Form the mixture into a loaf shape.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the loaf in a baking dish and bake for 2.5 hours, basting with butter and water occasionally.

  2. Slice and serve.

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 + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Butter + sagetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,312 recipes

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

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Raw veal
Forms the main body of the loaf and provides its meaty structure and savoury flavour.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help the loaf hold its shape as it sets.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the loaf from drying out as it bakes.
Pounded crackers
Absorb moisture and add body, giving the loaf a tender, sliceable texture.
Butter
Used for basting, adding fat that promotes browning and a rich surface.

The step that matters

Basting during the long bake. Veal is lean and the loaf bakes for a long time, so it can dry out. Occasional basting with butter and water adds moisture and fat to the surface, helping keep the interior juicy and the crust golden.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Sagethe original

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