Name: Veal and Ham Pie
Ingredients: 1 lb veal; 2 hard boiled eggs; 1 lb ham; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 pint stock; 1 teaspoon pepper

Why it works: Veal and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,264 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Veal and Ham Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and layer

Cut the veal into 1‑inch pieces and the ham into smaller pieces.
Layer the veal and ham in a dish, sprinkling with salt and pepper.
Cut the hard‑boiled eggs into pieces and place them on top.
Pour the stock over the layers.

Bake

Bake according to the instructions for beef steak pie.

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.

Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,264 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,058 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,845 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal: Provides the main meaty texture and body of the pie.
Ham: Adds savory, salty flavor that complements the veal.
Hard boiled eggs: Add richness and a firm, creamy texture when sliced through the layers.
Stock: Supplies moisture that keeps the meat tender as it cooks.

“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.