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Veal Loaf

A loaf of veal mixed with pork, crackers, butter, eggs, herbs, and lemon, baked and served cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 957 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).

  2. In a large bowl, mix the veal, pork, crumbled crackers, butter, beaten eggs, salt, pepper, and marjoram or sage until thoroughly combined.

Shape and top

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

  2. Brush the top with beaten egg and cover it thickly with crumbled crackers.

  3. Dot the top with small pieces of butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the loaf on a grate over a dripping pan filled with water and a little salt.

  2. Bake for one hour, basting frequently with the water, until the loaf is a rich brown.

  3. Serve cold, adding a little lemon juice and grated lemon rind before serving.

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. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  5. Pork + marjoramtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together883 recipes

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

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 firm, sliceable texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help the loaf hold its shape when baked.
Crackers
Absorb moisture and give the loaf body, with the crumbs on top adding browning crust.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the loaf moist and promoting browning on top.
Pork
Adds fat and flavor, helping keep the lean veal moist.

The step that matters

Basting the loaf with water during baking. Water in the dripping pan gives gentle moist heat and steam around the loaf, which helps keep the lean veal from drying out while the top browns. Letting the pan run dry risks a dry, tough loaf.

Swap the marjoram

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Sagefits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Marjoramthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, butter, egg, pepper, lemon. 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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