Skip to main content
Main

Bean Loaf

A baked loaf made from cooked beans, egg, peanut butter, milk, sage, onion, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Beans and peanut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 190 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

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

Make the loaf

  1. In a bowl, combine the cooked beans, beaten egg, peanut butter, milk, sage, and chopped onion.

  2. Mix in enough bread crumbs to thicken the mixture.

  3. Season with pepper to taste.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and bake until firm enough to slice when cold.

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. Beans + peanuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together190 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Beans + sagetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together113 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked beans
Form the bulk of the loaf and provide its main body and substance.
Egg
Binds the mixture so it sets firm as it bakes.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and thicken the mixture so it holds its shape.
Peanut butter
Adds fat and richness, giving a softer, creamier texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the mixture before it sets.

The step that matters

Bake until firm enough to slice when cold. The egg sets as it heats, but the loaf firms further as it cools. Slicing too early can crumble it, so let it cool fully before cutting.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, egg, peanut, butter, milk, onion, bread):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, egg, peanut, butter, milk, onion, bread. 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.

More bean loaf recipes

Cottage Cheese 3 See all 13 →

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipesBread OmeletteBread Omelette60 recipesOatmeal BreadOatmeal Bread51 recipes