Name: Pressed Veal Loaf
Ingredients: 3 pounds chopped veal; 6 crackers or bread crumbs; 1 pound fat pork; 2 eggs; sage to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; pepper to taste; ⅔ cup milk; ½ cup butter

Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Pressed Veal Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Mix and shape

In a large bowl, mix together the chopped veal, crackers or bread crumbs, fat pork, eggs, sage, salt, pepper, milk, and butter until well combined.
Shape the mixture into a loaf and place it in an earthen dish.

Bake

Bake for 2 hours.

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.

Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,930 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Chopped veal: Forms the main body of the loaf and gives it its meaty texture.
Crackers or bread crumbs: Absorb liquid and help the loaf hold its shape when sliced.
Fat pork: Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist as it bakes.
Eggs: Bind the mixture so it sets firm rather than crumbling.
Milk: Adds moisture that keeps the loaf tender during baking.
Butter: Adds richness and fat that contribute to a moist, tender texture.

The step that matters

Shaping the loaf. The mixture is loose and wet, so it must be packed firmly into the dish so it holds together and slices cleanly after baking.

Swap the sage

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

Nutmegfits about as well
Parsleyfits about as well
Sagethe original
Marjoramfits about as well

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