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Roast Fillet of Veal

A roasted veal fillet seasoned with salt and basted with butter, served with ham or bacon and optional cucumbers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Veal and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,264 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Roast Fillet of 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

  1. Wash the fillet in cold water and dry it thoroughly with a clean cloth before cooking.

  2. Select a nice fillet and remove the bone.

  3. Fill the space with stuffing and place a layer of stuffing under the fat.

  4. Truss the fillet into a good shape by drawing the fat around it and tie it with kitchen twine.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 to 4 hours, basting frequently with butter.

  2. Ensure the fat does not burn by giving it careful attention.

  3. Once done, pour melted butter over the fillet and serve with ham or bacon and fresh cucumbers, if in season.

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

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

  2. Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Veal + cucumbertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,381 recipes

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

  5. Butter + cucumbertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,185 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal fillet
Forms the main meat, which is kept moist and tender during long, gentle roasting.
Butter
Basting adds moisture and richness and helps the surface brown as it roasts.
Stuffing
Fills the cavity and sits under the fat, adding flavour and helping the fillet hold its shape.

The step that matters

Watching the fat during roasting. Fat that burns turns bitter and dark before the long roast is finished. Regular basting and close attention keep the surface golden while the interior cooks gently.

Swap the cucumber

The recipe marks cucumber as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, ham):

  1. Onionfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, ham. 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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