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Veal or Beef Loaf

A loaf made from veal or beef, salt pork, eggs, crackers, cream, and butter, seasoned with pepper and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Veal or Beef 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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make and shape the loaf

  1. In a large bowl, mix the veal or beef, salt pork, beaten eggs, rolled crackers, cream, and butter.

  2. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.

  3. Shape the mixture into a loaf.

Bake

  1. Place the loaf in the oven and roast until cooked through.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Pork + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal or beef
Forms the main body of the loaf and provides its meaty flavor and substance.
Salt pork
Adds fat that keeps the loaf moist and rich as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Rolled crackers
Absorb moisture and help give the loaf a tender, sliceable texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, contributing to moistness and flavor.

The step that matters

Roast until cooked through. Ground meat loaves can look done on the outside while remaining undercooked inside. Because the record gives no time, check the centre with a thermometer; the loaf is safe when the centre reaches a safe internal temperature for ground meat.

“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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