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Hickory Nut Filling

A sweet filling made from sour cream, sugar, and hickory nut meats.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Hickory Nut Filling

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the sour cream and sugar in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in the hickory nut meats.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Cream + meattop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,248 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Sugar + meattop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Sour cream
Provides richness and moisture, and its acidity helps the filling thicken as it cooks.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps thicken the mixture as it cooks down.
Hickory nut meats
Add crunch, nutty flavor and texture to the finished filling.

The step that matters

Cooking until thickened. Heat must be kept moderate and the mixture watched closely, since sour cream can curdle or scorch if overheated. Stop when it thickens, as it will firm further as it cools.

“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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