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Veal, Quenelles of

A light veal dish formed into quenelles and poached in stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Veal, Quenelles of

Ingredients

Directions

Make the panada

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the flour to the melted butter and stir the flour into the butter.

  3. Add the stock to the mixture and stir until the mixture forms a compact mass around the spoon.

  4. Set the pan aside to cool.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Pass the veal through a mincing machine or chop finely.

  2. Pound the panada (flour, butter, and stock) and the meat together until smooth.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, seasoning to taste, and pound well together.

  4. Rub the mixture through a wire sieve.

Shape and cook

  1. Shape the sifted mixture into quenelles using two dessert spoons: dip one spoon in boiling water, fill the spoon with the mixture, and shape the mixture into an oval with a knife dipped in hot water.

  2. Transfer the quenelle to a second spoon and place it in a buttered sauté pan.

  3. Once all quenelles are in the pan, pour in enough boiling water to nearly cover them.

  4. Cover with a greased sheet of paper and cook gently for about 30 minutes.

  5. Drain and arrange in a circle.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 quenelles and gives them their savoury flavour.
Flour
Thickens the butter and stock into a panada that gives the quenelles structure and a tender texture.
Butter
Enriches the panada and adds richness and moisture to the finished quenelles.
Stock
Adds moisture and flavour to the panada, keeping the quenelles soft.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set during gentle cooking to hold the quenelles together.

The step that matters

Pound the mixture smooth and sieve it before shaping. Thorough pounding and sieving break up fibres and evenly blend the panada with the meat. Without this the quenelles can turn out lumpy, coarse, or crumble when poached.

“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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