Why it works: Veal and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,930 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓
Roast Veal
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Stuff the fillet with the seasoned bread stuffing and skewer it into shape.
Cover the top of the fillet with thin strips of salt pork or lard using a larding needle.
Season the fillet with flour, coarse sea salt, and black pepper.
Roast and serve
Roast for 25 minutes per pound.
Make gravy from the drippings in the pan.
Serve with horseradish.
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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Veal + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,930 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Bread + porktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,371 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Veal + breadtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,056 recipes
Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal fillet
- Forms the main body of the roast and is the dish's central meat.
- Salt pork or lard
- Fat laid over the top that bastes the meat and adds richness as it renders.
- Bread stuffing
- Fills the fillet and adds moisture and body as it cooks inside the meat.
- Flour
- Dusted on the surface to help the exterior brown and form a light crust.
The step that matters
Roast for 25 minutes per pound. Veal is lean and dries out quickly when overcooked, so timing by weight matters. Roasting at the stated oven heat cooks the centre through while keeping the meat moist.
“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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