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Loaf, Walnut

A walnut loaf baked with bread crumbs, herbs, and olive sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Loaf, Walnut

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.

Make the loaf

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

  2. In a bowl, mix chopped walnuts, bread crumbs, salt, cayenne, thyme, and sage.

  3. Pour boiling water over the mixture and mix until a dressing-like consistency is achieved.

  4. Add the raw egg and butter and stir thoroughly.

  5. Press the mixture into a buttered pan.

  6. Bake for about 45 minutes or until brown.

Make the olive sauce

  1. Blend 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of browned flour to make the olive sauce.

  2. Pour in boiling water to create a smooth sauce.

  3. Before serving, add vinegar, minced olives, salt, and paprika to taste.

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. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  4. Walnut + sagetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together179 recipes

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

  5. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Walnut meats
Provide the main nutty flavour and body of the loaf.
Bread crumbs
Form the bulk of the loaf and absorb the boiling water to set a dressing-like texture.
Raw egg
Binds the crumb and walnut mixture so the loaf holds its shape when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the loaf and enriches the olive sauce.
Browned flour
Thickens the olive sauce and adds a toasted, deeper flavour.
Olives
Contribute briny, savoury flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Blending the butter and browned flour before adding boiling water. Flour must be fully blended into the fat before liquid is added, or lumps form. Adding the boiling water gradually while stirring gelatinises the starch evenly, giving a smooth, thickened sauce.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, bread, pepper, thyme, sage, egg, butter):

  1. Walnutthe original
  2. Chestnutfits about as well
  3. Beansfits less well
  4. Peasfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, bread, pepper, thyme, sage, egg, 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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