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Veal Potted

A savory dish of veal mixed with spices, butter, onion, and eggs, baked in small pots.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Veal Potted

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the mixture

  1. Combine veal, fresh butter, lemon juice, black pepper, coarse sea salt, mace, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, mushroom powder, thyme, savory, and chopped onion in a stewpan.

  2. Stew the mixture for 10 minutes.

  3. Pound the stewed mixture into a paste.

  4. Add the mellow part of a boiled tongue, beaten to a paste, and cold fresh butter. Mix well.

  5. Incorporate the beaten eggs into the mixture.

Pot and bake

  1. Press the mixture tightly into small pots.

  2. Cover the pots with paper.

  3. Place the covered pots in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

  4. Bake for 20 minutes.

  5. Pour clarified butter over the top.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main body and meaty texture of the potted mixture.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and a smooth, spreadable texture once chilled.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when baked.
Onion
Adds savory depth and aroma to the stewed mixture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich meat and butter.

The step that matters

Incorporate the beaten eggs into the mixture. Eggs are added to a cooled, paste-like mixture; if they are not blended in evenly, they can set unevenly or curdle in the oven, leaving a grainy texture.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, lemon, pepper, allspice, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, lemon, pepper, allspice, clove, nutmeg. 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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