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Larded Fillet of Veal

A veal fillet stuffed with veal forcemeat, larded with pork lardons, roasted, and served with a gravy made from the bone.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Larded Fillet of Veal

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.

Prepare the veal

  1. Remove the bone from the veal and fill the space with veal forcemeat. Tie it securely with kitchen twine.

  2. Lard the top of the fillet with the pork or bacon lardons, covering it neatly.

  3. Sprinkle the fillet with pepper and coarse sea salt, then place it in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

Roast

  1. After 30 minutes, reduce the oven temperature slightly. Cook for 20 minutes per pound, basting frequently.

  2. Half an hour before it is done, sprinkle a little flour on top, baste well, and brown quickly.

Make the gravy

  1. Boil the removed bone in 1 pint of water with a bunch of herbs to make the gravy.

  2. Pour off the fat from the roasting pan, stir in 1 tablespoon of flour, brown if necessary, add the broth from the bone, boil for 2 minutes, and strain.

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

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

  3. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

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

  5. Pork + flourtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Pork and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,187 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 dish, cooked tender and juicy as the roast's centrepiece.
Veal forcemeat
Fills the space left by the bone, adding moisture and a tender, cohesive texture.
Pork or bacon lardons
Fat melts into the lean veal during roasting, adding moisture and savoury flavour.
Flour
Dusted on top and browned at the end, it helps form a golden crust; in the gravy it thickens the sauce.

The step that matters

Basting and final browning. Veal is lean and dries out easily, so frequent basting keeps it moist. Adding flour late and browning quickly builds a golden crust without overcooking the interior.

“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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