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Veal Loaf

A loaf made from chopped veal, salt pork, eggs, milk, and cracker crumbs, baked in a water bath.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 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. Mix together the chopped veal, chopped salt pork, eggs, salt, pepper, fresh milk, and cracker crumbs until well combined.

  2. Pack the mixture closely into a pan.

Bake

  1. Cover the pan and place it inside another pan filled with water.

  2. Bake for 3 hours at 350°F (175°C).

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

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

  2. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

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

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, firm structure when cooked.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firmly as it bakes.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb moisture and help hold the loaf together while it cooks.
Salt pork
Adds fat that keeps the lean veal moist and adds savory flavor.
Fresh milk
Adds moisture that keeps the loaf tender rather than dry.

The step that matters

Placing the covered pan in a water bath. The water surrounding the pan moderates the heat, so the loaf cooks gently and evenly. This helps prevent the edges from drying out or overcooking before the center sets.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Sagethe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, egg, pepper, milk. 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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