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Jellied Meat Loaf

A loaf of cold meat mixed with spices and veal stock, set in gelatin to firm.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Jellied Meat Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine the cold meat, salt, ground cloves, boiling veal stock, allspice, ground cinnamon, mace, and black pepper in a bowl.

  2. If the stock does not gel, dissolve 1 teaspoon of gelatin in cold water and add it to the mixture.

  3. Mix all ingredients well.

Mold and serve

  1. Press the mixture into a mold that has been rinsed in cold water.

  2. Set aside to cool and harden.

  3. Once hardened, loosen the edges with a knife and turn out onto a dish.

  4. Serve with salad.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold meat
Forms the body of the loaf and gives it its bulk and bite.
Veal stock
Provides liquid and natural gelatin that sets the loaf as it cools.
Gelatine
Adds extra setting power if the stock alone does not gel.

The step that matters

Checking whether the stock gels. Stock with too little natural gelatin will not set firm, so the loaf may crumble when turned out. Adding dissolved gelatin ensures the mixture holds its shape once chilled.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, clove, veal, allspice, cinnamon, pepper):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, clove, veal, allspice, cinnamon, pepper. 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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