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Veal, Breast Of, Rolled

A veal breast rolled and stuffed with forcemeat, simmered for three hours and served with gravy and optional garnishes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal, Breast Of, Rolled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the veal

  1. Trim the breast of veal, removing all bones and tendons.

  2. Spread a thin layer of forcemeat over the inside of the breast.

  3. Roll the breast tightly and bind it firmly with tape.

  4. Tie the rolled veal in a cloth.

Simmer

  1. Place a plate at the bottom of a stew pan and lay the veal on it.

  2. Cover the veal with cold water and bring to a boil.

  3. Skim the surface and simmer gently for three hours.

Serve

  1. After cooking, remove the cloth and place the veal on a dish.

  2. Pour the gravy over the veal and garnish with cut lemon, fried bacon, and forcemeat balls.

  3. For added flavor, mix in anchovies, parsley, and boiled livers into the gravy if desired.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Veal + livertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together392 recipes

    Shared aroma: enoic acid (butter, cheesy).

  3. Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,580 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + livertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Veal + parsleytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,766 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 breast
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and moist during long, gentle simmering.
Forcemeat
Fills the rolled breast, adding richness and a seasoned, tender stuffing that holds its shape.
Anchovies
Add a salty, savory depth to the gravy when mixed in.
Boiled livers
Enrich the gravy with a soft, savory body and deeper flavor.

The step that matters

Simmer gently rather than boil. A hard boil toughens the meat's proteins and clouds the liquid, while a gentle simmer keeps the veal tender and the gravy clear. Skimming the surface removes foam that would otherwise muddy the broth.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, liver, lemon):

  1. Sagefits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, liver, lemon. 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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