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Pillet of Veal with Oysters

A roasted veal fillet wrapped in salt pork, served with a sauce of oyster liquor, butter, flour, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓

Pillet of Veal with Oysters

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the veal

  1. Bind and skewer the fillet of veal into shape without removing the bone.

  2. Cover the fillet with thin slices of salt pork.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 25 minutes per pound, basting frequently.

Make the oyster sauce

  1. Boil the liquor from 1 pint of oysters, then scald the oysters in it.

  2. Strain the oyster liquor and mix it with 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of flour cooked together until thick.

  3. Add cream equal to the amount of oyster liquor.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the bone from the meat, cover the roast, and keep it warm.

  2. Chop the meat from the bone finely and mix it with the oysters.

  3. Add the mixture to the sauce and pour it into the hole left by the bone 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. Butter + creamtop 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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Pork + oystertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,255 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Fillet of veal
Forms the main body of the roast, providing the meat that is cooked and later chopped.
Salt pork
Lays fat over the lean veal, adding moisture and savory flavor as it cooks.
Oysters
Provide the briny, savory flavor that defines the sauce and the stuffing mixture.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and, with flour, forms the base that thickens it.
Flour
Thickens the oyster liquor with butter into a smooth, body-giving sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and smoothness to the oyster sauce, softening its briny edge.

The step that matters

Basting the veal in the hot oven. Veal is lean, so frequent basting with the fat and juices keeps the surface moist while the interior cooks through, preventing dryness.

“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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