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Veal Loaf

A loaf of veal mixed with herbs, stock, gelatine, and eggs, then chilled to set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Rosemary and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the veal

  1. Boil the veal until tender.

  2. Add the onion, rosemary, and thyme.

  3. Drain the mixture.

  4. Run it through a meat grinder.

Mix and dissolve

  1. In a bowl, mix the veal, stock, pepper, salt, paprika, butter, Worcestershire sauce, and crushed crackers.

  2. Dissolve the gelatine in ½ cup cold water over hot water.

  3. Add the dissolved gelatine to the mixture.

Mold and set

  1. Layer the meat mixture and sliced eggs in a mold.

  2. Sprinkle pimento over the eggs.

  3. Pack the mold tightly.

  4. Place it in a cool place until congealed.

  5. Serve.

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. Rosemary + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  3. Rosemary + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + peppertop 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 main body of the loaf and gives it its meaty structure.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when cooled and sliced.
Eggs
Add firm slices and richness that show as a decorative layer inside the loaf.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer, moister texture in the meat mixture.
Saltine crackers
Absorb moisture and bind the meat mixture together.

The step that matters

Pack the mold tightly. Loose packing leaves air gaps that weaken the loaf, so it may crumble when unmolded and sliced. Firm packing helps the gelatine-bound mixture hold together as it sets.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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

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