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Roast Fillet of Yeal

A roasted veal fillet stuffed with forcemeat, coated with fat or butter, and served with butter sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Veal and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,930 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Roast Fillet of Yeal

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the veal

  1. Remove the bone from the center of the veal fillet.

  2. Fill the cavity with veal forcemeat.

  3. Create a pocket between the skin and flesh to add more forcemeat.

  4. Skewer the veal and bind it firmly into a round shape.

  5. Dust the veal with flour.

  6. Cover the veal with thin slices of fat pork or spread butter over it if you prefer.

  7. Place the veal on a wire rack in a dripping pan.

Roast and baste

  1. Roast the veal in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C).

  2. Cook for 30 minutes per pound, basting frequently to prevent burning and achieve a dark brown color.

  3. Just before removing from the oven, prepare ½ pint of butter sauce.

Finish and serve

  1. Transfer the meat to a platter.

  2. Remove the pork bits.

  3. Pour the sauce into the dripping pan.

  4. Stir to dissolve the glaze.

  5. Remove the strings and skewers from the meat.

  6. Pour some brown gravy around it.

  7. Serve the rest in a tureen.

  8. Garnish with cut lemon.

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

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

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

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Veal fillet
Forms the main body of the roast, cooking to tender slices when roasted whole.
Veal forcemeat
Fills the cavity and pocket, adding moisture and a tender, juicy interior as it cooks.
Fat pork or butter
Covers the surface, adding fat that keeps the outside moist and helps it brown.
Flour
Dusted on the surface, it helps the outside take on color and form a light crust.
Butter sauce
Made from the pan drippings, it adds richness and moisture to the serving sauce.

The step that matters

Basting during the roast. Frequent basting keeps the surface moist so it browns evenly instead of scorching. Because the roast is large and cooks for a long time, skipping it can leave the outside dry or burnt before the centre is done.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Raisinfits about as well
  2. Avocadofits about as well
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, flour, pork, butter, sauce. 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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