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Veal Omelet

A baked loaf of veal, pork, eggs, milk, crackers, pepper, salt, and sage.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, mix the veal, pork (or butter), eggs, milk, pounded crackers, pepper, salt, and sage until well combined.

  3. Shape the mixture into a loaf and place it in a baking dish.

Bake

  1. Bake for 2 hours.

  2. Baste often with melted butter and water.

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 + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

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

  5. Veal + sagetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together670 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help it set firm as it bakes.
Boston crackers
Absorb moisture and add bulk, helping the loaf hold its shape.
Pork
Adds fat and savory flavor, keeping the loaf moist as it cooks.

The step that matters

Basting with butter and water. Basting often keeps the surface moist and helps it brown evenly, so the loaf does not dry out during the long 2-hour bake.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Sagethe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, egg, milk, pepper. 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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