Why it works: Pepper and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Veal and Ham Pie
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).
Season the veal pieces with pepper and a little salt.
Assemble and bake
Layer the veal and ham slices alternately in a pie dish.
Add the forced or sausage meat on top.
Sprinkle with stewed button mushrooms and the hard-boiled egg yolks.
Pour the water over the layers.
Cover and bake in the oven until cooked through.
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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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Ham + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,446 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Meat + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,423 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Ham + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,486 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal cutlet
- Forms the main meat layers, becoming tender and savory as it cooks through.
- Ham
- Adds savory, salty flavor and a firmer meaty texture between the veal layers.
- Forced or sausage meat
- Adds a rich, seasoned layer that moistens and flavors the pie as it cooks.
- Hard-boiled egg yolks
- Add richness and a crumbly, creamy texture to the filling.
The step that matters
Cover and bake until cooked through. Covering the pie traps steam so the layers cook gently and stay moist. Undercooked pork or veal is unsafe, so the centre must reach a safe internal temperature, which a cook can check with a thermometer rather than by appearance alone.
“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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