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Nut Loaf

A loaf made from finely chopped nuts, breadcrumbs, butter, water, egg, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Nut Loaf

Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Nut Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Chop the nuts very finely.

  2. Combine the chopped nuts, breadcrumbs, and butter in a bowl.

  3. Stir in the boiling water, then add the beaten egg, salt, pepper, and herbs. Mix well and pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Sprinkle fine crumbs and bits of butter on top.

  2. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).

  3. Turn the loaf onto a platter and garnish with celery tops or parsley.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

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

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

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Bread + sagetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 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

Nuts
Provide the body and rich flavor that make up the loaf.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and bind the loaf so it holds its shape when sliced.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the loaf.
Egg
Binds the mixture and helps it set as it bakes.

The step that matters

Pouring in the boiling water. Boiling water softens the crumbs and nuts so they absorb moisture evenly. Mixing it in well before baking keeps the loaf from turning out dry in some spots and wet in others.

Swap the nuts

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

  1. Walnutfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, egg, pepper, sage. 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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