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Nut Relish

A spread made by grinding nuts into a butter‑like consistency.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Evora Bucknum Perkins · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Brazil nut and pine share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Nut Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine nuts in varying proportions, e.g., 2 parts Brazil nuts, 1 part pine nuts and almonds, or 1 part each Brazil nuts, almonds, pecans, and pine nuts.

  2. Dry nuts well.

  3. Grind all together or combine after grinding.

Set and serve

  1. Press into tumblers or small tins and stand in a cool place.

  2. Unmold to serve.

By Evora Bucknum Perkins. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Brazil nut + pinetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together22 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Brazil nut + nutstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together30 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Pine + nutstop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Brazil nuts
Supply most of the oil, giving the butter its rich, smooth, spreadable texture.
Pine nuts
Add oil and a soft, buttery flavor that balances the richer nuts.

The step that matters

Dry nuts well.. Any surface moisture left on the nuts can cause the butter to spoil sooner and can make its texture wet and uneven. Thorough drying before grinding keeps the nut oils and texture stable.

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brazil nut, pine):

  1. Cashew nutfits better
  2. Pistachiofits better
  3. Almondfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against brazil nut, pine. 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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