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Roast Fillet of Veal

A veal fillet stuffed with breadcrumbs, pork or ham, parsley, and spices, then roasted with ham or pork slices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Roast Fillet of Veal

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 the fillet

  1. Fill the hole in the fillet with a stuffing of breadcrumbs, chopped pork or ham, chopped parsley, pepper, and salt.

  2. Press the stuffing well down between the folds of the fillet.

  3. Pin the fillet into shape with skewers and bind it with stout cords.

  4. Lay thin slices of ham or pork over the top before roasting.

Roast and finish

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Rub the top with butter, season with pepper, and dredge with flour to brown.

  3. Cook for 18 minutes per pound.

  4. Remove the slices of ham or pork 15 minutes before the meat is done.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pork + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,638 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

Butter and flour 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 fillet
Forms the main body of the roast, providing the meat that is sliced and served.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb juices from the stuffing, helping it hold together and stay moist during roasting.
Chopped pork or ham
Adds savory flavor and fat to the stuffing, enriching the meat inside the roast.
Butter
Adds fat and helps the surface brown during roasting.
Flour
Dusted on the surface, it helps the outside brown and form a crust.

The step that matters

Remove the ham or pork slices 15 minutes before the meat is done. The thin slices on top would overcook and dry out if left on until the end, while the surface needs time to brown. Timing their removal protects their texture and lets the crust color evenly.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Sagefits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, pepper, ham, butter, flour. 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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