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Veal Loaf

A loaf of veal mixed with salt pork, egg, bread crumbs, and seasonings, baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Loaf

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).

Make and shape the loaf

  1. In a large bowl, combine veal, salt pork, egg, salt, pepper, sage, and bread crumbs, and mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  2. Shape the mixture into a loaf and place it in a baking dish.

Bake

  1. Baste the loaf with a mixture of butter and water.

  2. Bake for 3 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. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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 and gives it a meaty texture.
Salt pork
Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist as it bakes.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Bread crumbs
Absorbs juices and fat, helping the loaf stay tender and moist.

The step that matters

Basting occasionally over the long bake. The loaf bakes for a long time, and lean veal can dry out. Regular basting with butter and water adds moisture and fat to the surface, helping keep the interior juicy and the outside from drying.

Swap the sage

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, egg, pepper, bread, 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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