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Veal Loaf

A loaf made from veal steak, eggs, butter, milk, crackers, and seasonings, baked in the oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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).

Mix

  1. Beat the eggs, crackers, butter, and milk together in a bowl.

  2. Mix the salt, pepper, and sage with the veal using your hands.

  3. Combine the egg mixture with the meat mixture and mix well.

Bake

  1. Shape the mixture into a loaf and cover it with a layer of lard.

  2. Bake for 2 hours.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Butter + sagetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,312 recipes

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

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal steak
Forms the bulk of the loaf and gives it its main meaty texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Rolled crackers
Absorb liquid and help keep the loaf tender and moist.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a moister, softer texture.
Milk
Adds moisture that keeps the loaf from drying out as it bakes.

The step that matters

Combining the egg mixture with the meat. Mixing too vigorously works the meat and can make the loaf dense and firm. Mix only until the ingredients are evenly combined so the texture stays tender.

Swap the sage

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

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

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