Why it works: Veal and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,049 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Veal Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the veal
Cut the best end of a loin of veal into thin chops.
Remove the bone and some fat from the kidney.
Season the veal with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Assemble and bake
Place the veal in a deep dish and add the yolks of boiled eggs.
Cover with puff pastry and brush with beaten egg.
Decorate with pastry leaves.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
Serve
Before serving, pour in some good consommé.
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.
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,845 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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
What each ingredient does
- Veal loin
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and juicy during the long, gentle baking.
- Puff pastry
- Forms a crisp, flaky crust that bakes golden and seals in the filling.
- Egg wash
- Beaten egg brushed on the pastry promotes even browning and a glossy finish.
- Boiled egg yolks
- Add richness and a firm, crumbly texture to the filling.
- Consommé
- Adds moisture and savoury flavour when poured in just before serving.
The step that matters
Pour in the consommé just before serving. Adding the consommé before baking is not part of this method; it is added at the end so it stays clear and warm. Pouring it in too early can dilute the filling and soften the crust, so timing matters.
“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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