Name: Veal Loaf
Ingredients: three pounds of veal; one-half pounds of salt pork; two teaspoons of pepper; two teaspoons of chopped parsley; two teaspoons of celery; two pounded crackers; two eggs well beaten; one nutmeg; one lemon

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

Chop veal and salt pork finely.
Mix with pounded crackers, beaten eggs, nutmeg, pepper, parsley, celery, lemon rind and juice.

Shape and bake

Put the batter on the loaf after kneading.
Bake in a roll for two hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

812Calories

48 gProtein

22 gFat

103 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Pork	100g cooked	242
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Veal	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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.

Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal: Forms the meaty base of the loaf and gives it its main body.
Salt pork: Adds fat and moisture so the loaf stays juicy as it cooks.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it bakes.
Pounded crackers: Absorb liquid and help hold the chopped meat together.
Lemon: Adds acidity and bright aroma that lift the rich meat.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pork, pepper, parsley, celery, egg, lemon):

Marjoramfits better
Thymefits better
Tarragonfits better
Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, pepper, parsley, celery, egg, lemon. 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.