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Veal Loaf

A loaf of finely chopped veal mixed with crackers, eggs, spices, and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped veal, rolled crackers or bread crumbs, eggs, black pepper, sage, mace or nutmeg, and coarse sea salt.

  3. Mix well and shape into a loaf.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the loaf in a baking dish and baste with a mixture of butter and water.

  2. Sprinkle a small quantity of rolled crackers on the outside of the loaf.

  3. Bake for about 3 hours.

  4. Serve cold, sliced thin.

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 + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Veal + sagetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together670 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Sage + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together519 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main body and meaty structure of the loaf.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help the loaf hold its shape as it sets.
Crackers or bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the loaf a tender, sliceable texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the outside brown and stay moist.

The step that matters

Bake low and slow. Veal is lean and delicate, and high heat can toughen the proteins and dry the loaf. A gentle oven lets the egg set evenly while keeping the interior moist.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, bread, egg, pepper, sage, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, bread, egg, pepper, sage, butter. 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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