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Roast Fillet of Veal

A veal fillet roasted with stuffing, butter, and sea salt, served with ham or bacon and fresh cucumbers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Roast Fillet of Veal

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. Remove the bone from the fillet and fill the space with stuffing.

  2. Place a layer of stuffing under the fat and truss the fillet into a good shape with tape.

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

Roast

  1. Roast the fillet moderately at first, basting frequently with butter.

  2. Roast for 3 to 4 hours, depending on the size of the fillet.

  3. Once cooked, pour melted butter over the fillet.

Serve

  1. Serve with ham or bacon and fresh cucumbers.

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

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

  2. Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Veal + cucumbertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,381 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Butter + cucumbertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,185 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal fillet
Forms the main body of the roast and is the meat that is cooked and served.
Stuffing
Fills the boned cavity and sits under the fat, adding bulk and flavour to the roast.
Butter
Basting fat that adds moisture and helps the surface brown as it roasts.

The step that matters

Roasting at moderate heat with frequent basting. Veal fillet is lean and dries out easily over a long roast. Frequent basting with butter keeps the surface moist and adds fat, which helps the outside brown evenly while the inside cooks through.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, ham):

  1. Onionfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, ham. 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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