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Plain Roast Veal

A simple roasted veal seasoned with salt, pepper, and flour, cooked slowly in an oven with butter‑water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Plain Roast Veal

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. Wipe the meat with damp cheese cloth.

  2. Rub the meat with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

  3. Dredge the meat with flour.

  4. Place the meat in a covered earthen roaster.

  5. Dissolve the butter in boiling water and pour it into the roaster.

Roast

  1. Cover and place in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

  2. After 10-15 minutes, reduce the heat to 350°F (175°C) and roast slowly for 2 to 4 hours, depending on size.

  3. Put the veal in the roaster with the best side down and turn it halfway through cooking to brown the best side last.

  4. Baste the veal every 15-20 minutes if using an iron roaster; only 2-3 times if using an earthen roaster.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,381 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

Veal
The main cut; slow roasting in a covered pan keeps it moist and tender.
Flour
Coats the surface so it browns well and helps thicken the pan juices.
Butter
Adds fat that enriches the pan liquid and gives the meat a richer flavor.
Boiling water
Creates steam and liquid in the covered roaster, keeping the meat moist.

The step that matters

Basting the veal. Each time the lid is lifted, heat and steam escape, which slows cooking. Covered earthen roasters hold moisture well, so they need far fewer bastes than iron roasters.

“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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