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Veal Loaf

A loaf made from ground veal and salt pork, mixed with crackers, eggs, butter, spices, baked, then sliced.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Veal Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Chop or grind the veal and salt pork finely.

  2. Crush the crackers into fine crumbs.

Mix and shape

  1. In a large bowl, mix the veal, salt pork, crushed crackers, beaten eggs, butter, pepper, salt, and poultry seasoning thoroughly. Add a little water if the mixture is too dry.

  2. Transfer the mixture into a bread pan, cover with bits of butter, and dredge with flour.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for two hours.

  2. Once cooled, slice as you would meat.

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

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

  3. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 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 meat body and structure of the loaf.
Salt pork
Adds fat and moisture so the loaf stays juicy as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help it set firm when baked.
Crackers
Absorb moisture and add bulk, helping the loaf hold its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and browns the top of the loaf.

The step that matters

Adding water only if the mixture is too dry. Lean meat and crumbs vary in how much moisture they hold, so the mix should be judged by feel. Too much water makes the loaf soggy and loose, while too little leaves it dry and crumbly after baking.

“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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