Name: Veal Cake
Ingredients: 2 lbs fillet of veal; ½ lb ham; Yolks of 2 hard boiled eggs; Salt and pepper to taste; Enough stock to half fill the mold

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 Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut the ham and veal into small pieces, removing the skin from the veal.

Assemble and steam

Layer the veal, ham, and egg yolks in a mold.
Pour stock made from veal bones into the mold until half full.
Cover with greased paper and steam for 2½ hours.

Finish

Let it cool, then turn out and decorate with parsley.

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).
Ham + eggtop 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

Fillet of veal: Forms the main body of the cake and gives it a firm, sliceable texture when cooked.
Ham: Adds salty, savoury flavour that seasons the meat through the layers.
Egg yolks: Help bind the layers together and set firmly as the cake cooks.
Stock: Provides moisture during steaming and adds meaty flavour to the cake.

“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.