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Veal Omelette

A baked loaf of veal, eggs, milk, salt pork, crackers, spices, butter, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 507 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Veal Omelette

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. In a large bowl, mix the veal, eggs, milk or cream, salt pork, powdered crackers, pepper, marjoram, and sage until well combined.

  3. Form the mixture into a loaf shape.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the loaf in a baking dish and bake for 2.5 hours.

  2. While baking, baste the loaf with a mixture of butter and water, and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

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. Marjoram + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  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

Raw veal
Forms the main body of the loaf and gives it a firm, meaty structure.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Powdered crackers
Absorb moisture and help the loaf keep its shape and texture.
Salt pork
Adds fat, which keeps the lean veal moist and adds flavour during baking.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and softness to the mixture.

The step that matters

Baking the loaf for 2.5 hours at 300°F. Veal is lean and the loaf must cook through gently. Low, steady oven heat sets the egg proteins evenly without drying the meat, while basting with butter and water keeps the surface moist and helps it brown.

Swap the marjoram

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

  1. Marjoramthe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, milk, pork, pepper, sage, 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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