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Veal Loaf

A loaf of finely chopped veal mixed with eggs, crackers, butter, and seasonings, baked slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 642 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

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

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

Mix and shape

  1. In a large bowl, mix the veal, eggs, rolled crackers, butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and sage or marjoram until well combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a sheet-iron pan.

Bake

  1. Add enough water around the pan to baste the loaf often.

  2. Bake for 2 to 3 hours, basting regularly.

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. Nutmeg + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together642 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Veal + sagetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together670 recipes

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

  5. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 loaf and gives it a meaty texture.
Eggs
Bind the chopped meat so the loaf holds together when sliced.
Soda crackers
Absorb juices and add body, helping the loaf stay moist and tender.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the loaf moist during baking.

The step that matters

Basting the loaf with water. Water in the pan turns to steam around the loaf, keeping the surface from drying out over a long bake. Regular basting helps the loaf stay moist and tender through the 2 to 3 hours in the oven.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg, butter, pepper, sage):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, butter, pepper, sage. 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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