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Veal Potted

A savory dish of veal, butter, spices, and eggs baked in small pots.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Veal Potted

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the mixture

  1. Combine veal, butter, lemon juice, pepper, salt, mace, bay leaf, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, mushroom powder, thyme, savory, and chopped shallots in a stew-pan.

  2. Stew the mixture for 10 minutes.

  3. Pound the mixture.

  4. Add the boiled tongue paste and cold butter, mixing well.

  5. Incorporate the beaten eggs into the mixture.

Pot and bake

  1. Press the mixture tightly into small pots and cover with paper.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Pour clarified butter over the top before serving.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  5. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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 potted mixture, giving it its meaty texture.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and fat, keeping the mixture moist and smooth.
Boiled tongue
Adds body and savory flavor to the paste.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so it holds together and sets when baked.
Shallots
Add a mild aromatic sweetness and depth to the base.

The step that matters

Pressing into pots and baking. Pressing the mixture tightly removes air pockets so the potted meat sets dense and smooth. Baking gently sets the eggs without overcooking the meat, which would make it dry and crumbly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, lemon, pepper, allspice, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, lemon, pepper, allspice, clove, nutmeg. 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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