Name: Poitrinb Bb Tbav OLACiB
Ingredients: 1 breast of veal; fine salt; black pepper; forcemeat (increased to 3 or 4 times the quantity based on joint size); thin slices of half-boiled bacon or ham; veal stock

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 ↓

Poitrinb Bb Tbav OLACiB

Ingredients

1 breast of veal
fine salt
black pepper
forcemeat (increased to 3 or 4 times the quantity based on joint size)
thin slices of half-boiled bacon or ham
veal stock

Directions

Prepare the veal

Remove the gristles from the breast of veal.
Beat the veal with the flat side of a cleaver until even.
Sprinkle the veal with fine salt and black pepper.

Stuff and bind

Prepare forcemeat according to your preferred recipe, increasing the ingredients as needed.
Lay thin slices of bacon or ham over the veal.
Press the forcemeat into a compact shape and place it in the center of the veal.
Roll the veal up tightly and skewer the ends with small skewers.
Bind the joint firmly with twine.

Stew

Slowly stew the veal in hot veal stock until tender.

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).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal breast: Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender when slowly stewed.
Forcemeat: Fills the centre of the roll, adding moisture and a rich, savoury filling.
Bacon or ham: Adds savoury, salty flavour and fat that seasons the meat as it cooks.
Veal stock: Provides liquid for slow stewing, keeping the meat moist and building flavour.

The step that matters

Slowly stew the veal until tender. Collagen in veal breast breaks down into gelatin only with long, gentle heat. Rapid boiling toughens the muscle fibres and leaves the meat dry and stringy.

“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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Poitrinb Bb Tbav OLACiB