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Large Veal Pie

A pie with layers of bacon and veal, topped with puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Large Veal Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Boil the bacon until cooked.

  2. Let the bacon cool.

  3. Slice the bacon thinly.

  4. Cut the veal into large, thin slices.

  5. Season the veal slices with pepper and salt.

  6. Dip the veal slices in flour.

Assemble the pie

  1. Layer bacon and veal alternately in a pie dish.

  2. Sprinkle chopped shallots between layers.

  3. Finish with bacon on top.

  4. Prepare the puff pastry.

  5. Place a band of pastry around the edge of the dish.

  6. Wet the band.

  7. Pour water into the dish.

  8. Cover the pie with the remaining pastry.

  9. Egg wash the top.

  10. Decorate as desired.

Bake

  1. Bake the pie in a 350°F oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes.

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. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  4. Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,845 recipes

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

  5. Veal + flourtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,886 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Streaked bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour that bastes the lean veal as the pie bakes.
Lean veal
Forms the main meat filling, becoming tender through slow baking.
Flour
Dusting on the veal helps thicken the juices into a light sauce.
Half puff pastry
Forms a flaky, golden crust that encloses the filling.
Egg
Egg wash helps the top crust brown and gives it a glossy finish.

The step that matters

Wet the band before covering the pie. Moistening the pastry band helps it bond to the top crust so the edges seal and steam stays inside, keeping the filling juicy rather than dry.

“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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