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Preserve

Veal and Ham Pates

A baked pate made from minced veal and ham with breadcrumbs, salt, cayenne, lemon juice, catsup, stock, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,047 recipes mention both. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Veal and Ham Pates

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Combine the veal, ham, bread crumbs, salt, cayenne, lemon juice, and catsup in a bowl.

  2. Moisten the mixture with stock and heat it in a double boiler.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg.

Bake and serve

  1. Turn the mixture into heated pastry cases.

  2. Place in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until the egg is set, about 5 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together3,264 recipes

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

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together20,964 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main meaty body and structure of the pâté.
Ham
Adds a savory, salty flavor that carries the dish.
Egg
Binds the mixture and sets with gentle heat to hold it together.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the filling a softer, more cohesive texture.
Catsup
Adds sweetness and tang to round out the savory flavors.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich meat flavors.

The step that matters

Stir the beaten egg in off the heat. The egg sets at fairly low temperatures, so adding it to a very hot mixture can scramble it. Removing the pan from heat first lets it combine smoothly and bake into an even, set texture.

“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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