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Fricandeau of Veal

A baked veal dish with bacon, salt, mace, lemon rind, nutmeg, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Fricandeau of Veal

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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Lay the veal flat on a table with the skin side up.

  3. Weigh the bacon after trimming any rind and rust.

Bake

  1. Press the mixture into a dish, higher in the center than at the edges.

  2. Bake for 1 to 1½ hours.

Serve

  1. Serve hot or cold, and drain excess fat.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

  3. Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,580 recipes

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

  4. Veal + macetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,761 recipes

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

  5. Mace + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,315 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
Lean meat that sets into a firm, sliceable texture as it bakes.
Striped bacon
Its fat renders during baking, adding moisture and rich flavor to the lean veal.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavor that complements the meat.
Nutmeg
Contributes a warm, sweet aroma that deepens the spiced flavor.
Lemon rind
Its oils add bright, fragrant citrus aroma that lifts the rich meat.

The step that matters

Drain excess fat. Fat rendered from the bacon pools during baking. Draining it keeps the dish from tasting greasy and helps the surface stay firm rather than soft and oily.

“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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