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Nut Loaf

A loaf made from chopped walnuts and almonds, stale bread crumbs, butter, milk, and optional herbs, baked and served cold or hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Nut Loaf

Why it works: Walnut and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 993 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Nut 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. Chop enough walnut and almond meats to make 2 cups.

  2. Remove stale bread crumbs from the loaf using a fork to make 1 cup.

  3. In a bowl, combine the chopped nuts, bread crumbs, salt, and mixed herbs if using.

Make and shape the loaf

  1. Melt the butter in the milk, then let it cool before adding to the nut mixture.

  2. Shape the mixture into a loaf and place it in a greased pan.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for one hour, basting occasionally with butter and water.

  2. Serve cold with mayonnaise or hot with tomato sauce.

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 + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together993 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Walnut and almond meats
Provide the bulk and rich, nutty flavor that forms the body of the loaf.
Stale bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and bind the nuts so the loaf holds its shape.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and moisture, and browns the surface during basting.
Milk
Adds moisture that softens the crumbs and helps bind the mixture together.

The step that matters

Letting the butter-milk mixture cool before adding it. If the liquid is still hot, it can partly cook or separate the fats and proteins and loosen the mixture unevenly, so cooling it first keeps the texture more consistent.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, meat, bread, butter, milk):

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Peanutfits about as well
  4. Lima beansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, meat, bread, butter, milk. 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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