Name: Veal Pie
Ingredients: 2 lbs veal cutlets; 1 or 2 slices of lean bacon or ham; pepper to taste; salt to taste; 2 tablespoons minced savory herbs; 2 blades pounded mace; 1 teacup gravy; crust for pie

Why it works: Veal and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,264 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. 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.

Assemble

Cut the veal cutlets into square pieces.
Season the cutlets with pepper, salt, and pounded mace.
Place the cutlets in a pie dish.
Sprinkle the savory herbs over the cutlets.
Add the cooked bacon or ham on top.
Pour a little water into the pie dish.

Bake

Cover the pie with the crust.
Brush the crust with egg yolk.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 1 hour.

Add gravy and finish

Remove the top crust.
Pour the gravy into the pie.
Replace the crust.

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.

Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,264 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,257 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Veal + macetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,761 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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 cutlets: Forms the main meat base, giving the pie its bulk and tender texture.
Bacon or ham: Adds savory fat and salty, smoky flavor that seasons the meat as it cooks.
Savory herbs: Contribute aroma and a herbal flavor that complements the veal.
Mace: Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the meat.
Gravy: Provides moisture and rich flavor to the filling inside the pie.