Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Timbale of Veal
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the veal
Boil the veal until tender.
Season the veal with salt and pepper.
Let the veal cool in the stock.
Chop the veal finely.
Make the mixture
In a bowl, combine the chopped veal, bread crumbs, onion juice, salt, and pepper.
Heat the gravy and butter together.
Pour the heated gravy and butter over the veal mixture.
Stir in the beaten eggs until well combined.
Bake and serve
Butter ramekins or a deep baking pan.
Pack the mixture tightly into the ramekin or pan.
Place the ramekin or baking dish in a deep pan filled with warm water.
Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 1 hour.
Turn out the timbale onto individual dishes or a platter.
Garnish as desired.
Pour some seasoned gravy over the timbale before serving.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Bread + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,676 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Forms the main body of the timbale and gives it meaty flavour and structure when cooked.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the gravy and butter, helping the mixture hold together and stay moist.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture as they set during baking, giving it a firm, sliceable texture.
- Gravy
- Adds moisture and savoury flavour, keeping the timbale from drying out as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, improving flavour and mouthfeel of the mixture.
The step that matters
Bake in a water bath. Setting the ramekin in warm water in a deep pan moderates the oven heat around the custard-like mixture. Gentle, even heat keeps the eggs from overcooking, which would make the timbale grainy or cracked.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, bread, pepper, butter, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, bread, pepper, butter, egg. 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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