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Veal Cake

A baked meat cake made with veal, ham, eggs, stock, gelatin, 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 parsley 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 Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mould

  1. Butter a plain mould or basin.

  2. Decorate the bottom with slices of hard-boiled egg and forcemeat balls.

Fill the mould

  1. Cut the veal and ham into neat pieces and season with pepper, salt, and chopped parsley.

  2. Place the seasoned meat in the mould and fill with strong second stock.

  3. If the stock is not stiff enough, mix in a little melted gelatine.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover the mould and bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 30 minutes.

  2. Let it cool on its side, then turn it out and garnish with parsley.

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

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

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

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

  3. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  4. Veal + parsleytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,766 recipes

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

  5. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Remains of cooked veal
Forms the bulk of the meatloaf and gives it its meaty flavour and texture.
Slices of cooked ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour alongside the veal.
2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs
Add firmness and a decorative pattern when sliced against the mould.
Some nice second stock
Provides moisture that sets as it cools, binding the meat into a sliceable loaf.
A little gelatine
Helps the stock set firm so the loaf holds its shape when turned out.

The step that matters

Making the stock stiff enough before baking. Gelatine in stock sets as it cools. If the liquid is too thin, the loaf will not hold together when turned out, so the stock should be checked for firmness and gelatine added if needed.

“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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