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Baked Veal En Casserole

A baked veal steak topped with a breadcrumb and onion mixture, cooked in a casserole.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Baked Veal En Casserole

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Lay the veal steak in a heated, buttered casserole.

  3. Add the seasoned stock or hot water.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs, chopped onion, beaten egg, melted butter, salt, and pepper.

  2. Spread the dressing over the steak.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.

  2. Uncover and brown for an additional 10 minutes.

  3. Serve with sour jelly or spiced gooseberries.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Bread + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,676 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal steak
Forms the meat base that becomes tender during covered cooking in liquid.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the stock and butter to form a soft, moist dressing layer over the meat.
Beaten egg
Binds the crumb dressing together so it holds its shape while baking.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the top crumbs brown in the oven.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and sweetness as it softens within the dressing.

The step that matters

Uncover and brown for an additional 10 minutes. Covered cooking keeps the top moist, so the dressing only browns once the lid is off. Uncovering too early can dry the crumbs, while leaving it covered means no browning and a pale, soft top.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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