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Dessert

Date and Walnut Loaf

A moist loaf made with dates, walnuts, flour, sugar, butter, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Dates and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 218 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Date and Walnut 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease a loaf tin.

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix the chopped dates, sugar, butter, baking soda, and salt.

  2. Pour the boiling water over the mixture and stir until dissolved.

  3. Add the egg and mix well.

  4. Stir in the flour, chopped walnuts, and vanilla extract.

  5. Beat the mixture thoroughly and pour it into the prepared loaf tin.

Bake

  1. Bake for 1 to 1.5 hours or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

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. Dates + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together218 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Dates + walnuttop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together302 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Walnut + vanillatop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,730 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Dates
Add moisture and natural sweetness, and soften to give the loaf a moist, chewy crumb.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the loaf together as it sets in the oven.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic dates and react to lift and open the crumb as the loaf bakes.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps it set into a firm, sliceable loaf.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavour in the crumb.
Walnuts
Add crunch and a toasty, nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft dates.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in the hot date mixture. Pouring boiling water over the dates and stirring until dissolved softens the fruit and activates the baking soda, which then reacts with the dates' acidity to lift the loaf. Stirring until fully dissolved keeps the leavening even.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, walnut, butter, vanilla, egg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, walnut, butter, vanilla, egg. 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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