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Veal Loaf

A loaf of finely chopped veal mixed with ham, salt pork, spices, eggs, and bread crumbs, baked and served cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the loaf

  1. Chop the veal and ham very fine or grind them using a meat chopper.

  2. Mix in the salt, pepper, salt pork, onion juice, eggs, ground mace, and bread crumbs.

  3. Mold the mixture into a loaf shape.

Bake and serve

  1. Baste the loaf with beaten egg and sprinkle with additional bread crumbs.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for two hours, basting several times with melted butter and water.

  3. Serve cold.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  5. Ham + porktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,638 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main body of the loaf, becoming firm and sliceable as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help the loaf hold its shape when cut.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help keep the loaf tender and juicy as it bakes.
Salt pork
Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist and gives it richer flavor.
Ham
Adds savory, salty flavor and some fat to the meat mixture.

The step that matters

Basting during the two-hour bake. Lean meat dries out over long baking, and the melted butter and water help keep the surface moist and the loaf juicy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, pork, onion, egg, bread, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, pork, onion, egg, bread, butter. 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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