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 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).
Make the loaf
In a large bowl, mix the veal, crushed soda crackers, eggs, butter, salt, pepper, and chopped salt pork until well combined.
Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan and top with bits of butter and grated bread crumbs.
Place the loaf pan in a larger pan filled with water to create a water bath.
Bake and serve
Bake for 2 hours.
Allow to cool, then slice thinly to serve.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Veal + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,930 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,371 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Butter + porktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Provides the main body of the loaf and its meaty texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set firmly as it bakes.
- Soda crackers
- Absorb moisture and add body, helping the loaf hold together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the lean meat.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that keeps the meat moist.
The step that matters
Baking in a water bath. Surrounding the loaf pan with water moderates the oven's heat, so the edges do not dry out or overcook before the centre sets. Keeping the water in the outer pan prevents the custard-like proteins from curdling and turning grainy.
“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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