Why it works: Nutmeg and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,331 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Baised Pie, of Veal and Ham
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Prepare a hot-water paste for the crust.
Line a pie mold with the paste.
Fill and seal
Layer the veal cutlets and bacon or ham in the mold.
Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, nutmeg, and allspice. Add forcemeat.
Pour in the gravy.
Cover with more paste. Seal the edges.
Bake
Bake for 4 hours until cooked through.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,331 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together3,264 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal cutlets
- Form the main body of the pie and supply the meat filling.
- Bacon or ham
- Adds savory, salty flavor that seasons the meat layers.
- Forcemeat
- Adds a seasoned, moist stuffing that keeps the filling juicy.
- Hot-water paste
- Forms a sturdy crust that holds its shape around the filling.
- Gravy
- Adds moisture and savory depth to the filling as it cooks.
The step that matters
Sealing the edges. A tight seal keeps steam and juices inside the raised crust while baking. Gaps let the filling dry out and leak fat, leaving the pie less moist and less evenly cooked.
Flavor stand-ins for the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, pepper, allspice):
- Clovebetter flavor fit
- Marjorambetter flavor fit
- Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, pepper, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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