Name: Nut Bread
Ingredients: 1 cup brown sugar; 2 eggs; 1 cup chopped nuts; 4 cups flour; 2 cups sweet milk; 4 teaspoons baking powder; ½ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Nuts and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,180 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Nut Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the batter

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix brown sugar and eggs until well combined.
Stir in chopped nuts, flour, sweet milk, baking powder, and salt.

Rise and bake

Let the mixture rise for 30 minutes.
Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 24 minutes.

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.

Nuts + flourtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,180 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Nuts + milktop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together982 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Flour: Forms the main structure that holds the loaf together as it bakes.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the crumb.
Baking powder: Releases gas during mixing and baking, helping the loaf rise.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness, moisture, and a caramel-like flavor and browning.
Sweet milk: Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.
Chopped nuts: Add texture and a toasty, nutty flavor throughout the loaf.