Name: Veal Pie
Ingredients: 2 pounds veal, cut into small pieces or slices; ½ cup hot water; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; Butter, for greasing; Pie paste (for lining the dish); 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces; Pepper, to taste; Wheat flour, for dredging; Additional water from boiling the meat

Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Veal Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

2 pounds veal, cut into small pieces or slices
½ cup hot water
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
Butter, for greasing
Pie paste (for lining the dish)
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
Pepper, to taste
Wheat flour, for dredging
Additional water from boiling the meat

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the meat

Combine veal and hot water in a stewpan until covered. Add salt and bring to a boil, skimming off any scum.
When the meat is tender, transfer it to a dish to cool and remove all small bones.

Assemble the pie

Grease a tin or earthen basin with butter and line it with pie paste.
Layer half of the parboiled meat in the lined dish, adding butter pieces, pepper, and dredging with flour.
Fill the dish nearly to the top with the reserved boiling water.

Cover and bake

Roll out a cover for the pie crust to about ½ inch thick. Cut a slit in the center and make small incisions on either side.
Place the crust on top, trim the edges, and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for one hour.

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.

Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,002 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Pepper + wheattop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together984 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,594 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Veal: Provides the meat that becomes tender during simmering and forms the pie's filling.
Wheat flour: Dredging the meat with flour helps thicken the juices in the pie as it bakes.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture to the meat as it melts during baking.

“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.