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Veal Loaf

A baked loaf made from veal, pickled pork, crackers, eggs, milk, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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. Chop the raw veal and pickled pork together.

  2. Add the powdered crackers, beaten eggs, salt, black pepper, chopped onion, ground cloves, ground allspice, and milk.

  3. Knead the mixture well and shape it into a loaf.

Bake

  1. Cover the top with powdered crackers and dot with butter.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 2 hours, basting frequently with milk or water.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  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, giving it a firm, sliceable structure when cooked.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help the loaf set as it bakes.
Powdered crackers
Absorb moisture and add body, helping the loaf hold its shape.
Milk
Adds moisture to the mixture and, when basted, keeps the surface from drying out.
Pickled pork
Adds fat and savory, salty flavor to the lean veal.
Butter
Melts over the top, adding richness and promoting gentle browning.

The step that matters

Basting frequently during the 2-hour bake. Veal is lean and can dry out over a long bake. Regular basting with milk or water adds moisture to the surface, keeping the loaf tender and juicy rather than dry and crumbly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, egg, pepper, clove, allspice, 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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