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 ↓
Veal Olives
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 the stuffing
Mix fine bread crumbs with minced fat salt pork.
Moisten with oyster liquor.
Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and sweet herbs.
Spread forcemeat on each slice of veal.
Place a couple of small oysters or one large oyster in the center.
Roll up the meat.
Secure each roll with a small skewer.
Bake
Place the rolls in a dripping pan.
Melt butter in boiling water.
Pour the melted butter over the veal rolls.
Cover the pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.
Baste frequently with the gravy.
Uncover the rolls.
Brown the rolls.
Finish and serve
Keep the olives warm while you thicken the gravy with brown flour.
Add tomato ketchup to the gravy.
Pour the gravy around the olives in the serving dish.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pork + tomatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Veal + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,930 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal cutlet
- Forms the wrapper that encloses the stuffing and holds it during cooking.
- Oysters
- Add a briny, savoury flavour to the stuffing and the rolls.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Absorb the oyster liquor and bind the forcemeat so it holds together.
- Fat salt pork
- Adds richness and moisture to the forcemeat as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, helping the rolls brown and the gravy taste rounded.
- Tomato ketchup
- Adds sweetness and acidity to the gravy.
The step that matters
Covering, then browning the rolls. Baking covered keeps the veal moist and tender while it cooks through; the rolls must be uncovered at the end so the surface can brown. Basting keeps the surface from drying out during the long bake.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, oyster, bread, pork, butter, ketchup, pepper):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Tomatothe original
- Potatofits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, oyster, bread, pork, butter, ketchup, 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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