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Veal Loaf

A loaf made from boiled veal, pork, and salt pork mixed with cracker crumbs and eggs, then baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Veal and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,930 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. 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 the meat

  1. Boil the veal and fresh pork for 1.5 hours.

  2. Chop the cooked veal and fresh pork with the salt pork.

Mix and bake

  1. In a bowl, combine the meat mixture with cracker crumbs and beaten eggs.

  2. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, then mix thoroughly.

  3. Press the mixture into a tin, sprinkle with additional cracker crumbs and pieces of butter.

  4. Cover and bake at 350°F (175°C) 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. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the meat and crumbs together so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb moisture and help hold the loaf together, keeping it tender.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the top, helping it brown and keeping the surface moist.
Fresh pork
Supplies fat and flavor, keeping the loaf moist and tender.
Veal
Provides the main meat body and mild flavor of the loaf.

The step that matters

Press the mixture into the tin. Packing the mixture firmly without leaving air pockets helps the loaf hold its shape and slice cleanly once cooked and cooled.

“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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