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Split Pea Loaf

A loaf made from cooked peas, paprika, pimento, bread crumbs, salt, and canned tomatoes, baked until firm.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,058 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Split Pea Loaf

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

  1. Press the cooked peas through a colander.

Shape and bake

  1. Mix the peas with paprika, pimento, bread crumbs, salt, and canned tomatoes.

  2. Mold the mixture into a loaf.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 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.

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 + tomatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked peas
Form the main body of the loaf and provide its base texture.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the loaf hold its shape when set.
Pimento
Adds sweet, mild flavor and color through the loaf.
Canned tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity to the mixture.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Chickpeafits about as well
  3. Lima beansfits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, tomato. 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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