Name: Small Pain De Veau, Or, Veal Cake
Ingredients: 1¼ pounds veal, trimmed of fat and skin; 6 ounces beef kidney suet; 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt; ⅓ teaspoon white pepper; ⅓ teaspoon mace or nutmeg; grated rind of ½ lemon; 3 ounces boiled ham, minced (optional)

Why it works: White pepper and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

Small Pain De Veau, Or, Veal Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

1¼ pounds veal, trimmed of fat and skin
6 ounces beef kidney suet
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
⅓ teaspoon white pepper
⅓ teaspoon mace or nutmeg
grated rind of ½ lemon
3 ounces boiled ham, minced (optional)

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mixture

Chop the veal and beef kidney suet very finely.
In a bowl, combine the chopped veal, suet, salt, white pepper, mace or nutmeg, and lemon rind, then mix thoroughly with a chopping knife until well combined.

Bake and serve

Press the mixture smoothly into a small round baking dish.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Once done, lift it into a clean hot dish and serve plain or with brown gravy.

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.

White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,695 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Beef + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,729 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,264 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
White pepper + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,658 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 cake and gives it its meaty structure.
Beef kidney suet: Adds fat that keeps the mixture moist and tender as it bakes.
Lemon rind: Adds aromatic citrus flavour that brightens the rich meat.

The step that matters

Chopping the veal and suet very finely. Fine chopping spreads the fat evenly through the lean meat, so the cake bakes moist and holds together when sliced rather than becoming dry or crumbly.

“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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Small Pain De Veau, Or, Veal Cake