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Veal Loaf

A loaf of minced veal mixed with soda biscuits, ham, and seasonings, baked until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Biscuit and summer savory share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

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).

Mix and shape

  1. In a large bowl, combine the veal, crushed soda biscuits, egg, milk, butter, salt, pepper, summer savory, and minced ham, and mix all ingredients thoroughly.

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

Bake

  1. Spread butter on top of the loaf.

  2. Bake for 2.5 hours, basting frequently.

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. Biscuit + summer savorytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Pepper + summer savorytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together671 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Biscuit + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together841 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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 and flavour.
Soda biscuits
Crumbs absorb liquid and help bind the loaf so it holds its shape.
Egg
Binds the mixture together so it sets firm when baked.
Milk
Adds moisture so the loaf stays tender rather than dry.
Ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour and some extra richness to the loaf.

The step that matters

Basting frequently during the long bake. A loaf baked for a long time at low heat can dry out at the surface. Regular basting adds moisture to the top, keeping it tender and helping it brown gently.

Swap the summer savory

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Summer savorythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, biscuit, egg, milk, butter, pepper, ham. 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.

More veal loaf recipes

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