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Veal and Ham Pie

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Veal and Ham Pie

Ingredients

Directions

  1. On a clean surface, combine ¾ lb flour, 3 oz butter, and 2 oz lard.

  2. Chop the butter and lard into the flour, sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt, and make a well in the center.

  3. Add 1 tablespoon of water and mix lightly with a knife.

  4. Knead with your fingers, adding more water if necessary, until a stiff paste forms.

  5. Keep your hands and the surface floured to prevent sticking.

  6. Flour a rolling pin and roll out the paste, folding it in half and turning it four times, rolling it to fit the pie dish.

  7. Boil water in a small saucepan, add 2 eggs, and cook for 10 minutes.

  8. Cut 1½ lb veal and ¼ lb bacon into small pieces.

  9. Once the eggs are boiled, cool them, tap to crack the shells, and peel.

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 + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

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

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Sagefits less well
  4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, flour, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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