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Veal Forcemeat

A mixture of finely ground veal, bread, gravy, egg yolk, and butter, formed into a ball.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Veal Forcemeat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the panada

  1. Soak the bread crumbs in the veal gravy or white sauce.

  2. Press and drain the soaked bread to remove moisture.

  3. Heat the bread mixture over low heat until dry and forms a ball.

  4. Mix in the egg yolk while the mixture is still hot.

Make the forcemeat

  1. Chop and pound the veal until finely ground.

  2. Once cooled, combine with the veal and add the butter.

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

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

  3. Veal + breadtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,056 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,381 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 forcemeat and gives it a delicate, tender texture.
Stale bread
Absorbs liquid and gives body, keeping the forcemeat light and moist rather than dense.
Veal gravy or white sauce
Moistens the bread and adds flavour and moisture to the finished forcemeat.
Egg yolk
Helps bind the mixture together and adds richness to the texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Drying the bread mixture over low heat. Heating gently until the mixture dries and forms a ball drives off excess moisture so the forcemeat holds together. Too much moisture makes it loose, while overheating can scramble the egg yolk and toughen the texture.

“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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