Why it works: Pepper and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Veal and Ham Pie
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
Cut the veal into medium-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
Layer the veal and ham slices alternately in a pie dish.
Add a layer of forced or sausage meat on top.
Chop the black button mushrooms and sprinkle them over the meat.
Crush the hard-boiled egg yolks and add them to the mixture.
Pour ½ cup of water over the layered ingredients.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until cooked through.
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.
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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Ham + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,446 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Meat + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,423 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Ham + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,486 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal cutlet
- Forms the main meat body and provides the savory, tender bulk of the pie.
- Ham
- Adds salty, savory flavor that complements the veal.
- Forced or sausage meat
- Adds a rich, fatty layer that moistens the pie as it cooks.
- Hard-boiled egg yolks
- Crumbled yolks add richness and a creamy body to the filling.
The step that matters
Bake until cooked through. Raw meat must reach a safe internal temperature, and the layered pieces can cook unevenly, so checking the thickest parts ensures the veal and ham are fully done.
“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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