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Veal Cheese

A baked veal and salt pork loaf mixed with biscuits, eggs, herbs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,907 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, combine veal, salt pork, crushed soda biscuits, beaten eggs, thyme, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Mix well with your hands.

  3. Mold the mixture into a round shape and place it in a baking pan.

Top and bake

  1. Brush the top with egg white and dust with bread crumbs.

  2. Dot the top with butter.

  3. Bake for about 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. Thyme + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,907 recipes

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

  2. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  3. Biscuit + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together368 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  4. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

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 its meaty texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so it holds its shape when sliced.
Soda biscuits
Crushed crumbs that absorb juices and help keep the loaf moist.
Salt pork
Adds fat and richness, keeping the meat tender during baking.
Butter
Melts over the top, adding fat and helping the surface brown.
Egg white
Brushed on top to help the surface set and turn glossy and golden.

The step that matters

Mix the meat mixture well. The eggs and crumbs must be evenly distributed through the minced meat so the proteins bind it. Unmixed pockets can make the loaf crumble when sliced.

Swap the thyme

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

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Sagefits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Thymethe original

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