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Minced Veal

A veal mince made with gravy, herbs, butter, mace, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and optional cream, served with toasted sippets.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Minced Veal

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gravy

  1. If no gravy or broth is available, boil the bones and trimmings of the veal to produce the required gravy.

  2. Use a pound of the white part of the veal; for this quantity a pint of gravy will be needed.

  3. Break down the bones of the joint well, then add the trimmings, a small bunch of savory herbs, a slice or two of carrot or celery, a blade of mace, a few white peppercorns, and a bit or two of lean ham (boiled or unboiled).

  4. Pour in a pint and a half of water and stew gently for a couple of hours.

  5. Strain off the gravy, let it cool, and clear it entirely from fat.

Make the mince

  1. Cut the white part of the veal small with a very sharp knife, trimming all gristle and brown edges.

  2. Optionally mince a portion of fat with the veal, if desired.

  3. Thicken the gravy with a teaspoonful and a half of flour smoothly mixed with a small slice of butter.

  4. Season the veal with a saltspoonful or more of salt, half as much white pepper, grated nutmeg or pounded mace, and lightly grated rind of half a small lemon.

  5. Mix the seasoned veal into the gravy and heat thoroughly by the side of the fire without allowing it to boil.

Serve

  1. Serve the mince with pale toasted sippets.

  2. Add a spoonful or two of cream, if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

120Calories
0 gProtein
12 gFat
3 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot in our table0

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

By Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. White pepper + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Butter + macetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,405 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Butter and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,405 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Veal (in the method)
Provides the tender meat that forms the body of the mince.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the gravy so it coats the veal smoothly.
Butter
Enriches the thickened gravy and adds richness and a soft mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Heat the mince without boiling. Boiling a mixture thickened with flour and containing meat can toughen the meat and cause the sauce to break or turn lumpy. Gentle heat by the fire warms the veal through while keeping it tender and the gravy smooth.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, mace, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, mace, nutmeg. 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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