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Veal Olives

Veal squares coated with salt pork, breadcrumbs, onion, spices, and egg, baked until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Veal Olives

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 the olives

  1. Cut the veal into 3-inch squares.

  2. Mix the salt pork, bread crumbs, onion, pepper, salt, marjoram, and beaten egg.

  3. Place the mixture on the veal pieces and secure the corners with small skewers.

Bake and serve

  1. Lay the veal in a pan with enough gravy or light stock to cover the bottom.

  2. Dredge the veal with flour.

  3. Place the veal in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  4. Once browned on top, add a small bit of butter to each piece.

  5. Cook until tender, about 20 minutes.

  6. Serve with horseradish.

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. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Marjoram + flourtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,265 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

Veal fillet
Forms the wrapper that holds the stuffing and cooks until tender.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the stuffing so it holds together.
Egg
Binds the stuffing together as it sets during cooking.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor to the stuffing, keeping it moist.
Flour
Dries the veal surface, helping it brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Veal is lean and can turn dry and tough if overcooked. Keeping it in the oven only until tender preserves moisture, while the flour and surface browning add flavour.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pork, bread, pepper, marjoram, egg, flour):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, bread, pepper, marjoram, egg, 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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