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Cottage-cheese Loaf, No. 1

A loaf made from cooked rice, cottage cheese, peanuts, and bread crumbs, baked and served with a white sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and peanut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 670 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Cottage-cheese Loaf, No. 1

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. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Mix the cooked rice, chopped onion, savory fat, cottage cheese, ground peanuts, baking soda, bread crumbs, and strained tomato until well combined.

  3. Form the mixture into a roll and place it in a baking dish.

  4. Brush the top with melted butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 25 minutes until firm.

  2. Serve with a medium white sauce, optionally adding 2 tablespoons minced pimientos.

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. Rice + peanuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together670 recipes

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

  2. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peanuttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,043 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked rice
Provides the bulk and body of the loaf, holding its shape as the mixture sets.
Cottage cheese
Adds moisture and soft creaminess, and its proteins help the loaf set when baked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help bind the mixture so the loaf holds together when sliced.
Ground peanuts
Add richness, fat and a nutty flavor that gives the loaf substance.
Strained tomato
Adds moisture, acidity and savory flavor to the loaf.

The step that matters

Bake until firm. Baking sets the proteins in the cottage cheese and egg-free binder so the loaf holds its shape. Pulling it too early leaves a soft center that crumbles when cut, while over-baking dries it out.

Swap the peanut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, onion, cottage cheese, bread, tomato, butter):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Peanutthe original
  3. Peasfits about as well
  4. Sesamefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, onion, cottage cheese, bread, tomato, butter. 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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