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Minced Veal

A baked loaf of minced veal mixed with crackers, eggs, spices, topped with salt pork and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Minced Veal

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

Make and bake the meatloaf

  1. In a large bowl, combine minced veal, pounded crackers, eggs, salt, pepper, sage, cinnamon, and cloves, and mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and shape it as desired.

  3. Place the salt pork on top and baste with butter.

  4. Bake for 3 hours.

Serve

  1. Allow to cool, then cut into slices.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  3. Sage + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together731 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Sage + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together140 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main body and meaty texture of the loaf.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Soda crackers
Absorb moisture and help keep the loaf tender rather than dense.
Salt pork
Adds fat on top that bastes the loaf and adds savory richness as it bakes.

The step that matters

Baking low and slow. Baking at a gentle 300°F for a long time cooks the lean veal through while keeping it moist. Higher heat would dry the loaf and tighten the proteins, making it tough.

Swap the cinnamon

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

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Cinnamonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, pepper, sage, clove, pork, 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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