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Scotch Woodcock

A walnut and olive cream cheese spread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Scotch Woodcock

Why it works: Walnut and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,087 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Scotch Woodcock

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat the butter until melted in a chafing dish.

  2. Add the cream cheese and stir until dissolved.

  3. Mix in the chopped walnuts, beaten egg, olives, and paprika.

  4. Stir until well combined and heated through.

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. Walnut + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,087 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + cream cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Walnut + cream cheesetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Milk + cream cheesetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,393 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Cream cheese
Forms the smooth, rich base that the other ingredients are stirred into.
Egg
Helps bind the spread and sets slightly as it heats, giving it body.
Walnuts
Add crunch and a nutty texture that contrasts with the soft cheese.
Olives
Add briny, salty flavor that cuts through the richness of the cheese.

The step that matters

Heat through gently after adding the egg. Egg proteins set when heated, so stirring over too much heat for too long can make the spread grainy or curdled. Keep it moving and warm only until combined and hot.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, cream cheese, egg, olive):

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Walnutthe original
  3. Almondfits about as well
  4. Peanutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, cream cheese, egg, olive. 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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