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Veal Loaf

A loaf made from veal, pork, salt pork, cracker crumbs, milk, egg, butter, salt, pepper, and sage.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make and shape the loaf

  1. In a large bowl, combine veal, fresh pork, salt pork, cracker crumbs, sweet milk, beaten egg, salt, butter, pepper, and sage. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  2. Shape the mixture into a loaf and place it in a baking dish.

Bake

  1. Bake until the top is brown, basting with milk occasionally.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

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

  5. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main body and meaty texture of the loaf.
Fresh pork
Adds fat and moisture so the loaf stays juicy rather than dry.
Salt pork
Contributes fat that melts during baking, enriching flavor and moisture.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and help bind the mixture into a shapeable loaf.
Egg
Binds the mixture as it sets, holding the loaf together when sliced.
Sweet milk
Adds moisture that keeps the loaf tender during baking.

The step that matters

Shaping and placing the loaf. The mixture is soft and loosely held together before baking. Shaping it firmly and evenly helps it hold its form and cook at a uniform rate, so the center is not left underdone or the outside overcooked.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Sagethe original
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, milk, egg, butter, pepper. 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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