Name: Poitrine De Veau Glac^e.
Ingredients: 1 breast of veal; fine salt; cayenne pepper; mace; forcemeat (prepared from Chapter VIII, increased to 3-4 times the quantity); thin slices of half-boiled bacon or ham; kitchen twine or tape; veal stock

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 ↓

Poitrine De Veau Glac^e.

Ingredients

Directions

Remove the gristles and long bones from the breast of veal.
Pound the veal with a cleaver until even, then cut it into a square shape.
Sprinkle the veal with fine salt, cayenne, and mace.
Prepare forcemeat according to the recipe from Chapter VIII, increasing the ingredients as needed.
Lay thin slices of bacon or ham over the veal, then place the forcemeat in the center.
Roll the veal up tightly and skewer the ends with small skewers, binding it with twine or tape.
Slowly stew the rolled veal in hot veal stock until tender throughout.

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).
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,257 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Veal + macetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,761 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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

Swap the mace

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

Parsleyfits better
Marjoramfits better
Celeryfits better
Macethe original

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

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Beef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipes

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Brown Bread461 recipes

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Poitrine De Veau Glac^e.