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Veal Loaf

A loaf of ground veal mixed with crackers, eggs, butter, spices, baked and topped with breadcrumbs and bacon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the meat

  1. Grind the veal and salt pork together until very fine.

  2. In a bowl, combine the ground meat with the finely rolled crackers, beaten eggs, butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and onion juice.

  3. Mix thoroughly with your hands and shape into an oval loaf.

  4. Press firmly and pack into a dripping pan.

Bake and serve

  1. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top, add bits of butter, and place the slice of bacon on top.

  2. Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 2 hours, basting often with hot water.

  3. Slice when cold.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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, giving it its meaty structure and flavor.
Eggs
Bind the ground meat together and help the loaf hold its shape when sliced.
Snowflake crackers
Absorb juices and add body, keeping the loaf tender rather than dense.
Salt pork
Adds fat and richness, keeping the lean meat moist during baking.
Butter
Adds fat that enriches flavor and moistness in the loaf.

The step that matters

Pack the loaf firmly into the pan. Firm packing removes air pockets so the loaf holds together when sliced cold. Basting with hot water during baking keeps the surface from drying out.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, egg, butter, pepper, nutmeg, bread. 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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