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Veal Cake

A baked dish of minced veal and ham with egg yolks and parsley, baked in a greased dish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 28,563 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Veal Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Butter a plain earthenware dish or mold.

Make and bake the cake

  1. Layer hard-boiled yolks, chopped parsley, minced veal, and minced ham in the dish.

  2. Season the mixture highly.

  3. Mix thoroughly to form a smooth paste.

  4. Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of seasoned stock over the meat layers.

  5. Cover the dish tightly.

  6. Bake for about 1 hour.

Press, cool and serve

  1. Press firmly into the mold.

  2. Place a plate with a weight on top.

  3. Let it cool completely before turning it out.

  4. Garnish with parsley.

  5. Serve for luncheon or supper.

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. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

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

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

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

  4. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  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

Minced veal
Forms the main meaty body of the cake and holds its slices together.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Add richness and a crumbly, creamy texture to the meat mixture.
Minced ham
Adds a savory, cured flavor that deepens the meat mixture.
Seasoned stock
Adds moisture to the meat layers, which helps the cake stay tender as it cooks.

The step that matters

Let it cool completely before turning it out. As the cake cools under weight, the meat and egg proteins set and the juices firm up, so the slices hold their shape instead of crumbling or falling apart.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, veal, 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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