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Veal Birds

Veal Birds are thin veal slices rolled with salt pork, cracker crumbs, and seasonings, fried and simmered in cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and thyme are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,585 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Birds

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the veal

  1. Remove bones, skin, and fat from veal slices and pound until ½ inch thick.

  2. Trim veal into pieces 2½ by 4 inches.

  3. Chop trimmings fine and mix with salt pork.

  4. Add fine cracker crumbs, season with salt, pepper, thyme, and onions.

  5. Moisten mixture with 1 egg.

  6. Spread mixture on each slice nearly to the edge, roll tightly, and secure with skewers.

Cook and serve

  1. Dredge rolls with salt, pepper, and flour.

  2. Fry in hot butter until golden brown.

  3. Half cover with cream and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until tender.

  4. Serve on toast, garnished with parsley and lemon.

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. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Forms the thin outer wrap that becomes tender after simmering.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory richness that keeps the filling moist during cooking.
Fine cracker crumbs
Absorb moisture and help bind the filling so it holds together when rolled.
Egg
Binds the filling so it holds its shape when rolled and cooked.
Butter
Fat for frying that promotes browning on the outside of the rolls.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to the sauce as the birds simmer.

The step that matters

Securing the rolls before frying. If the rolls are not rolled tightly and skewered, the filling can leak out and the birds may loosen or fall apart during frying and simmering.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, pepper, thyme, egg, flour, butter. 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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