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Veal Loaf

A loaf made from veal, salt pork, eggs, spices, crackers, cream, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

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

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

Shape the loaf

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the veal, salt pork, beaten eggs, black pepper, salt, nutmeg, crushed soda crackers, cream, and butter.

  2. Shape the mixture into a loaf.

Bake

  1. Place the loaf in the oven and roast, basting occasionally, until cooked through.

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 + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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 texture.
Salt pork
Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Soda crackers
Absorb moisture and help the loaf hold together with a softer texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, contributing moisture and flavour.

The step that matters

Roast until cooked through. Veal and pork must reach a safe internal temperature throughout the loaf. Basting helps keep the surface from drying out while the centre cooks, so check that the middle is fully cooked rather than relying on timing alone.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Sagefits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

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