Name: Jellied Veal
Ingredients: 100 pounds knuckle of veal; 2½ pounds onions; 2 ounces whole mace; 2 ounces whole cloves; 1 ounce bay leaves; 4 ounces whole black pepper; 2 pounds coarse sea salt; 1 quart vinegar; 1 pint Worcestershire sauce

Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Jellied Veal

Ingredients

Directions

Simmer the veal

Cut the veal into small pieces and place in a kettle.
Cover with cold water, bring to a boil, and simmer for one hour.
Add the onions and allspice in a bag, then simmer for one more hour.

Pack and season the cans

Remove the meat, take out the bones, and pack the meat into cans.
Add the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce to the cooking liquid, strain, and pour over the meat in the cans.

Process

Cap, tip, and process in 1-pound cans for 40 minutes at 250°F (120°C) and in 2-pound cans for 55 minutes at 250°F (120°C).

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.

Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,400 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together16,901 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle: Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, which sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
Onions: Add savoury sweetness and aromatic depth to the cooking liquid.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the rich meat and balances its flavour.
Whole black pepper: Adds a sharp, aromatic warmth to the broth as it simmers.
Whole cloves: Contribute a warm, pungent aroma to the cooking liquid.
Whole mace: Adds a delicate, warm spice aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Process in cans at 250°F for the full time. Larger cans need longer processing because heat takes more time to reach the centre. Holding the stated temperature and time gives even, gentle heat that keeps the meat tender and the jelly clear, while shortening the time leaves the centre under-heated.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, onion, clove, pepper, vinegar, sauce):

Tarragonfits better
Garlicfits better
Allspicefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, onion, clove, pepper, vinegar, sauce. 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.