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Veal Pot Pie

A pie with veal and a crust, served with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Veal Pot Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA rather hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the filling

  1. Season the veal with salt, pepper, and onion, then place it loosely in a 3‑pint or 2‑quart pan.

  2. Fill the pan with gravy, stock, or water to almost cover the meat.

  3. Cover and set on the stove while preparing the crust.

Make the crust

  1. For the crust, mix flour, salt, baking powder, and butter until well combined.

  2. Add enough cold milk to form a soft dough.

  3. Shape the dough into a flat cake to fit the pan and cut holes for steam to escape.

Bake and serve

  1. Lay the crust over the meat and bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 40 minutes.

  2. For the gravy, simmer bones and scraps in 1 pint of cold water.

  3. When ready, brown 1 tablespoon of flour in 1 tablespoon of butter, then strain the hot stock over it, stirring well.

  4. Boil for 3 minutes, adjusting seasoning as needed, and serve with the pie.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the dough's structure and thickens the gravy when browned with butter.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the dough so the crust rises and becomes light.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness to the crust and gives the gravy flavor when browned.
Veal
Provides the main meat, which is kept moist by being covered in liquid while it sits.

The step that matters

Browning the flour in butter for the gravy. Flour cooked in fat until golden develops a nutty flavor and thickens smoothly; if it is undercooked the gravy tastes raw, and stirring the hot stock in steadily prevents lumps.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, meat, flour, butter, milk):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, meat, flour, butter, milk. 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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