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To Roast Veal

A method for roasting a 4-5 pound veal with salt, pepper, butter, flour, and water for basting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Roast Veal

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Soak the veal in cold water and wash off any bloody parts.

  2. Mix the salt and pepper, using 1 tablespoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper for each pound of meat.

  3. Wipe the meat dry and rub the seasoning into every part.

  4. Shape the meat neatly and fasten it with skewers.

  5. Place it on a spit or in a roasting pan.

Roast

  1. Dot the upper surface with bits of butter and dredge lightly with flour.

  2. Add 2 cups of water to the pan for basting.

  3. Roast in a 400°F (200°C) oven or before the fire in a Dutch oven.

  4. Baste occasionally and turn if necessary to ensure even cooking.

  5. If the water evaporates, add more to prevent burning.

  6. Roast for 15 minutes per pound; a 4-5 pound piece will take 1 to 1.25 hours.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,381 recipes

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Is the main cut being roasted, so its size sets the cooking time.
Butter
Melts over the surface during roasting, adding moisture and helping it brown.
Flour
Dusted on the surface, it helps the outside take on colour and a light crust.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the meat through the surface and adds savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Basting and adding water. Water in the pan keeps the drippings from scorching, and basting moistens the surface as it cooks. If the water boils away, the pan can burn, so topping it up protects both the meat and the colour of the crust.

“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 roasted veal recipes

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