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Veal Loaf

A loaf of seasoned veal mixed with ham or salt pork, eggs, breadcrumbs, and spices, baked until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

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.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Chop the veal and pork very fine.

  2. Mix in the eggs, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, onion juice, mace, and allspice.

  3. Mold the mixture into a loaf and place it in a baking pan.

Bake

  1. Baste the loaf with beaten egg and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

  2. Cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 2 hours, basting several times with melted butter and water.

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 + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Onion + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,270 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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, tender texture.
Eggs
Bind the chopped meat so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Bread or cracker crumbs
Absorb juices and add body, keeping the loaf moist and firm.
Ham or salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor, helping keep the lean veal moist.

The step that matters

Basting during the 2-hour bake. Veal is very lean, so it dries out easily in a long oven bake. Regular basting with butter and water adds moisture and fat to the surface, helping keep the loaf juicy and browned.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, egg, bread, pepper, onion, allspice):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, egg, bread, pepper, onion, allspice. 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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