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Instead-of-meat-loaf

A loaf made from peas or beans, rice, breadcrumbs, egg, and spices, baked until brown.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,434 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Instead-of-meat-loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Put the peas or beans through a sieve or grind them in a meat grinder.

  2. Mix all the ingredients well.

Shape and bake

  1. Form the mixture into a loaf and bake until brown.

  2. Alternatively, form croquettes, roll them in bread crumbs, and brown in the oven.

  3. Baste frequently with a mixture of 1 tablespoon of fat to 1 cup of hot water.

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. Peas + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,434 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Peas + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).

  3. Rice + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Peas + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Peas or beans
Provide the main body and protein-like bulk of the loaf.
Cooked rice
Adds bulk and a tender, soft crumb to the loaf.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the loaf hold its shape.
Egg
Binds the mixture together so it sets firmly when baked.
Fat
Adds richness and helps the surface brown during baking.

The step that matters

Mixing and shaping the loaf. The mixture must be evenly combined and firm enough to hold its shape. Too much moisture can make the loaf slump, while the egg and crumbs set during baking to bind it.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, bread, egg):

  1. Peasthe original
  2. Beansfits about as well
  3. Peanutfits about as well
  4. Almondfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, bread, 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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