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Veal Cake

A baked veal and ham cake served with a veal gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Veal Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Butter a mold.

Assemble

  1. Layer the bottom with veal and ham slices.

  2. Season with cayenne, salt, mace, parsley, and shallot.

  3. Add a layer of sliced hard-boiled eggs and press down.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake until cooked through.

  2. Make a veal gravy by simmering veal with a few shreds of isinglass, then strain.

  3. Add a small amount of ketchup to the gravy.

  4. Pour the hot gravy over the veal cake.

  5. Once cooled, turn the cake out of the mold.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Pepper + shallottop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

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

  4. Mace + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,268 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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 cake and, simmered, gives the gravy its meaty flavour.
Eggs
Hard-boiled and sliced, they add firm structure and visible layers to the cake.
Ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour that contrasts with the mild veal.
Isinglass (in the method)
Gelatine-like setting agent that helps the veal gravy firm up as it cools.

The step that matters

Turning the cake out of the mold. Once the cake has cooled and the gravy has set, it holds its shape; turning it out too early can cause it to break apart. Greasing the mold well helps it release cleanly.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, veal, ham, pepper, parsley, shallot, egg. 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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