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Veal Loaf

A baked loaf made from finely chopped veal, bacon, spices, biscuit crumbs, butter, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Biscuit and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 368 recipes. Both carry maltol, which smells caramel, sweet. 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 and shape the loaf

  1. In a large bowl, combine the veal, bacon, salt, pepper, rolled biscuit, melted butter, nutmeg, and beaten eggs.

  2. Mix all ingredients together until well combined.

  3. Mould the mixture into a loaf shape.

Bake

  1. Sprinkle biscuit crumbs on top.

  2. Bake for 1½ hours.

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. Biscuit + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together368 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Pepper + biscuittop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together841 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Biscuit + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,009 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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 gives it its meaty texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it bakes.
Rolled biscuit
Absorbs moisture and adds body, helping the loaf hold its shape.
Melted butter
Adds fat for moistness and richer flavour.
Bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour that carries through the loaf.

The step that matters

Mix until well combined. Thorough mixing spreads the eggs, fat and binder evenly through the raw veal, so the loaf sets uniformly rather than in patches or crumbling when sliced.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Capersfits about as well
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

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

More veal loaf recipes

Spiced 11Creole 3 See all 380 →

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