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Veal Omelets

A baked loaf of veal mixed with eggs, crackers, herbs, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Omelets

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Shape and bake

  1. In a large bowl, mix the veal, eggs, crushed cracker rolls, salt, thyme, sage, pepper, and milk until well combined.

  2. Form the mixture into a loaf shape.

  3. Place the loaf in a baking dish and baste with milk and butter.

  4. Bake for 2 hours, basting occasionally.

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. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Veal + sagetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together670 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Forms the main body of the loaf, providing protein structure and the meaty bulk of the dish.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Cracker rolls
Absorb moisture and help hold the meat together, keeping the loaf tender.
Milk
Adds moisture to the mixture and helps keep the loaf juicy during baking.
Butter
Basting fat that adds richness and promotes browning on the surface.

The step that matters

Bake for 2 hours, basting occasionally. Veal is lean and can dry out during a long bake. Basting with milk and butter adds moisture and fat to the surface, helping keep the loaf juicy and golden.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg, sage, pepper, milk, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Thymethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, sage, pepper, milk, butter. 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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