Name: Nut Loaf
Ingredients: 1 cup ground nuts (mostly English walnuts); 2 cups bread crumbs; 2 beaten eggs; salt to taste; 2 cups sweet milk (or a little more if crumbs are dry); small pieces of butter for topping

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Nut Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

1 cup ground nuts (mostly English walnuts)
2 cups bread crumbs
2 beaten eggs
salt to taste
2 cups sweet milk (or a little more if crumbs are dry)
small pieces of butter for topping

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

Make and bake the loaf

In a mixing bowl, combine ground nuts, bread crumbs, beaten eggs, salt, and sweet milk.
Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.
Place small pieces of butter over the top.
Bake for 35 minutes.

Serve

Serve hot.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Nuts + walnuttop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together284 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ground nuts: Provide the main body and rich, nutty flavour of the loaf.
Bread crumbs: Absorb the milk and add bulk so the loaf holds together while baking.
Beaten eggs: Bind the mixture and set during baking to give the loaf its firm structure.
Sweet milk: Moistens the crumbs and nuts so the loaf stays tender rather than dry.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, and helps the top brown as it melts.