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Veal Loaf

A baked loaf of finely chopped veal mixed with bacon, eggs, bread crumbs, butter, and seasonings.

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 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Chop the veal and bacon or ham finely.

  2. Mix the chopped veal and bacon with bread crumbs, butter, salt, pepper, celery salt, sage, and chopped onion.

  3. Add the eggs and mix well.

Bake and brown

  1. Pack the mixture tightly into a square cake tin.

  2. Cover the loaf with small pieces of butter and a layer of bread crumbs.

  3. Cover with another tin and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 2 hours.

  4. Uncover and brown the top.

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. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Sage + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together723 recipes

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

  4. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  5. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 loaf and gives it its meaty texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the loaf holds together when sliced.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add bulk, helping the loaf stay tender.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that keeps the lean veal moist.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and helps the top brown during baking.

The step that matters

Packing the mixture tightly into the tin. Firm packing removes air pockets so the loaf holds its shape and slices cleanly. Loose packing can let it crumble or collapse as the eggs set during baking.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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