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Noix of Veal, Béchamel-sauce

A veal dish braised with ham, bacon, vegetables, and mushrooms, finished with béchamel sauce and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Noix of Veal, Béchamel-sauce

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the veal

  1. Pare the noix of veal, ensuring the udder does not adhere.

  2. Lard the veal, season it, and place it in a stewpan with ham, bacon, and sliced vegetables.

  3. Braise the veal with a little liquid, glazing it all over.

  4. When the veal is done, drain it and cut it into thin slices.

Make the mushroom béchamel

  1. Slice the mushrooms and fry them in butter until they evaporate their moisture.

  2. Season the mushrooms, add the béchamel sauce, and let it boil for a few minutes.

Assemble and bake

  1. Spread a layer of the mushroom and béchamel mixture in a dish.

  2. Layer the slices of veal on top, alternating with the mushroom preparation.

  3. Mask the top with another layer of the mushroom mixture.

  4. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until the top is nicely colored.

  5. Garnish with potato croquettes before serving.

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. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,446 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Ham + mushroomtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,486 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
Forms the main meat body, becoming tender and juicy when braised slowly with moisture.
Mushrooms
Release moisture when fried in butter, concentrating flavor and keeping the filling from becoming watery.
Béchamel sauce
Provides a creamy, binding layer that holds the veal and mushrooms together and keeps them moist.
Butter
Fries the mushrooms, adding richness and browning them for deeper flavor.
Bacon
Adds fat and smoky, savory flavor to the braising liquid and the veal.

The step that matters

Evaporating the mushroom moisture. If mushrooms are not fried long enough to release and evaporate their water, the béchamel thins and the layers become soggy instead of creamy and set during baking.

“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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