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Galantine of Veal

A veal breast stuffed with ham fat, meat, egg balls, gherkins, and beans, rolled, boiled, and chilled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and beans are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,733 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Galantine of Veal

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the veal

  1. Bone the breast of veal and flatten it as much as possible.

  2. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and pounded spice.

  3. Brush the inside with beaten egg and sprinkle with chopped herbs.

  4. Layer ham fat, chopped meat, egg balls, gherkins, and French beans inside.

  5. Sprinkle dissolved isinglass over the layers.

  6. Roll the veal tightly and sew it with kitchen twine.

Boil and press

  1. Wrap in a cloth, tie tightly at both ends, and boil in stock for 3.5 hours.

  2. Once cooked, hang to drain, then tie tightly again and place between two dishes with weights on top until cold.

Serve

  1. Remove from the cloth and weights, and serve cold garnished with fresh 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.

  1. Pepper + beanstop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Ham + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Meat + beanstop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together369 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal breast
Forms the main body of the galantine and sets firm once cooled.
Beaten egg
Binds the herbs and fillings to the meat so the roll holds together.
Isinglass
Dissolves into a gel that sets as the galantine cools, helping it hold its shape.
Ham fat
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the lean veal from drying out during boiling.
Cow-heel or calf’s feet meat
Its natural gelatin adds body and helps the filling set when chilled.

The step that matters

Rolling and pressing while cooling. The roll must be tight and evenly weighted as it cools, so the layers fuse and the slices hold together. Loose rolling lets fillings shift and gaps form.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, egg, ham, meat):

  1. Peasfits about as well
  2. Walnutfits about as well
  3. Beansthe original
  4. Lima beansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, egg, ham, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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