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Veal, Minced, in Potato Cases

A casserole of minced veal and ham baked in mashed potato cases with cheese, stock, sauce, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,232 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Veal, Minced, in Potato Cases

Oven, in the book's wordsA sharp oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a sharp oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the cases

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Line small china cases with mashed potatoes.

  3. Sprinkle the insides with a pinch of grated cheese.

Make and fill

  1. Make a mince with the veal, ham, and stock, using about 1/2 cup of stock and 1/2 cup of sauce.

  2. Fill the potato cases level with the mince mixture.

  3. Cover with a thin layer of mashed potatoes and dredge with bread crumbs.

  4. Add a pinch of grated lemon peel, nutmeg, and cayenne on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Dot with butter and bake until golden, ensuring the bottoms do not burn.

  2. If the oven is too hot, place the cases in a tin with hot water until heated through, then brown the tops.

  3. Serve hot, garnished with fried 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,230 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

Cold veal
Provides the main meat body for the mince, bound together during gentle heating.
Minced ham
Adds salty, savoury flavour that complements the veal throughout the mince.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on the potato lining, adding savoury richness and a golden crust.
Mashed potatoes
Form the case and top layer, giving structure and a soft, browning surface.
Sauce
Adds moisture and body so the mince stays tender rather than dry when baked.

The step that matters

Keeping the bottoms from burning. Thin potato cases in a hot oven can scorch on the base before the tops brown. Using a water bath gently heats the cases through, and keeps the bake even.

Flavor stand-ins for the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, cheese, potato, butter, bread, sauce):

  1. Applebetter flavor fit
  2. Figabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Grapeabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, cheese, potato, butter, bread, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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