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Potted Tongue

A dish of smoked tongue and stewed veal layered in pots, pressed together and topped with melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,381 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Potted Tongue

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tongue and veal

  1. Boil the smoked tongues until tender.

  2. Skin and slice them thinly.

  3. Beat the tongue slices to a paste in a mortar, adding the butter gradually.

  4. Prepare an equal amount of lean stewed veal and pound it in the mortar with the same amount of butter.

Layer and seal

  1. Layer the veal and tongue alternately in stone pots, pressing them together to resemble red and white marble.

  2. Finish with a layer of veal on top and press down hard.

  3. Melt and skim the remaining butter, then pour it warm over the mixture to fill the pots.

  4. Seal the pots tightly with parchment and store in a cool, dry place.

Serve

  1. When ready to serve, cut into slices.

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 + vealtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,381 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Smoked tongues
Provide the main meat base, which is pounded into a smooth paste.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, spreadable texture that binds the meat.
Lean stewed veal
Forms the paler layers and contributes mild flavour and a firmer texture.

The step that matters

Pour the butter warm over the layers. The butter must be melted and skimmed so it is clear and fills the pots fully. Any milky solids left in it can spoil the seal and shorten storage.

“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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