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Braised Veal

Braised veal with a bread stuffing and aromatic vegetables, simmered in stock and tomato.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,108 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Braised Veal

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the stuffing

  1. Make a stuffing with stale bread, chopped onion, salt, pepper, thyme, and melted beef suet.

  2. Stuff and tie the veal in shape.

Braise

  1. In a pan, layer sliced carrot, onion, bay leaf, cloves, and peppercorns.

  2. Place the stuffed veal on top of the layer.

  3. Pour stock (or water) and cooked tomato around the meat.

  4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

  5. Cover the pan closely and place in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).

  6. Cook for 45 minutes per pound of meat, then strain the sauce, diluting if necessary.

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. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Thyme + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal shoulder
Forms the main meat that becomes tender during slow, covered braising.
Stale bread
Absorbs melted suet and juices, giving the stuffing a moist, light body.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and carries flavor through the meat.
Cooked tomato
Adds acidity and savory depth to the braising liquid and sauce.
Stock
Provides the liquid that gently cooks the veal and forms the base of the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook for 45 minutes per pound, covered in a slow oven. Veal shoulder is lean and connective-tissue rich, so slow, moist, covered heat is needed to break down collagen into gelatin. Too fast or uncovered heat dries the meat and leaves it tough.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, bread, onion, pepper, thyme, beef, carrot):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, bread, onion, pepper, thyme, beef, carrot. 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.

More braised veal recipes

Neck 27Fillet 11Breast 10Cutlets 4Neck with Oyster Sauce 3Shoulder 3 See all 22 →

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