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Dessert

Nut Butter

A spread made from roasted peanuts, almonds, pecans, pine nuts, and sliced bananas, steamed and molded.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and pine match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 176 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Nut Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine the peanuts, almonds, pecans, and pine nuts in a bowl.

  2. Add the sliced bananas and mix well.

Steam and set

  1. Pack the mixture closely into a mold.

  2. Steam for 1 hour.

  3. Allow the mixture to cool before turning it out of the mold.

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. Almond + pinetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together176 recipes

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

  2. Peanut + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together305 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

  3. Peanut + nutstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together81 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Almond + nutstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together394 recipes

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

  5. Almond + pecanstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together431 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

Peanuts
Provide the main nut body and a rich, toasty flavour.
Almonds
Add crunch and a delicate nutty flavour to the mixture.
Pecans
Contribute oils that add richness and a buttery texture.
Pine nuts
Add a soft, creamy bite and mild, sweet nuttiness.
Bananas
Add moisture and natural sweetness that help bind the nuts.

The step that matters

Packing the mold. Packing the mixture closely removes air gaps, so the mass holds together with no crumbling when steamed and turned out of the mold.

Swap the banana

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peanut, almond, pecans, pine, nuts):

  1. Coconutfits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Bananathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peanut, almond, pecans, pine, nuts. 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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