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Veal Pates

Veal Pates are small, breadcrumb-coated veal patties fried or baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Veal Pates

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped veal, cream, beaten egg, salt, marjoram, and mace.

  2. Mix well and shape the mixture into cones or patty-cakes using your hands.

  3. Roll each shape in breadcrumbs.

Cook

  1. Fry in a buttered pan or bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Marjoram + macetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together767 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Veal + marjoramtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together525 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  5. Veal + macetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,761 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold veal
Forms the main body of the pâté, giving it its meaty texture and flavour.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the mixture tender when cooked.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the shapes hold together during cooking.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying or baking.

The step that matters

Shaping the mixture. The mixture is soft and wet, so it must be shaped firmly and evenly. Loose or uneven shapes can break apart or cook unevenly, and the binding from the egg and cream only holds once the mixture is well combined.

Swap the marjoram

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, cream, egg, mace, butter):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Marjoramthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, cream, egg, mace, 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.

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