Why it works: Veal and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,264 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Roast Veal
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and dry the leg of veal.
Lard the veal with strips of bacon or ham.
Dredge the veal well with flour and season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Roast and serve
Roast in the oven, basting frequently.
Serve with thickened gravy.
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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Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,264 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Veal + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,886 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leg of veal
- Is the main cut of meat that is roasted and served as the centerpiece of the dish.
- Bacon or ham strips
- Larding adds fat and savory flavor inside the lean veal as it roasts.
- Flour
- Coats the surface so it can brown and helps thicken the pan juices into gravy.
The step that matters
Basting frequently during roasting. Lean veal can dry out in the oven. Regular basting with pan juices keeps the surface moist and adds flavor while the flour coating browns.
“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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