Nut Loaf
3 ounces (about 3/4 cup) nut meats, chopped 2 large potatoes, boiled with skins, then peeled and mashed 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped 1 medium-sized onion, chopped 1/2 piece celery, chopped 1 tablespoon oil 3 ounces (about 3/4 cup) cracker crumbs 1/2 teaspoon sage 1 egg, beaten, or the white alone Salt to taste Mix all together. Form into a loaf, put into a pan, and pour into the pan one cup water and two tablespoons oil. Roast one-half hour. Serve with jelly or gravy.
A meatless loaf of the sort that filled the roast-course gap in early vegetarian cookery. The original gives no oven temperature and no yield, and two of its quantities need interpreting.
- Oven temperatureNone is given. A loaf of this size, with the potato and one egg already cooked, will take a moderate oven of around 375F for the stated half hour, enough to set the raw egg and brown the surface.
- \Read as half a stalk (rib), chopped fine. It is a seasoning here, not a vegetable in its own right.
- Nut meatsWalnuts or pecans both work well here; peanuts give a heavier, sweeter loaf. Chop them fine rather than coarse, or the loaf crumbles when sliced.
- Cracker crumbsCracker crumbs of the period came from plain soda or water crackers, which were generally less salty than modern snack crackers. Modern salted crackers or dry breadcrumbs both substitute, but taste before adding the salt called for at the end.
- The water and oil in the panThis is the hinge. The cup of water and two tablespoons of oil poured around the loaf keep a lean, starchy mixture from drying out and reduce to the beginnings of a gravy. Do not pour them over the top, and baste once or twice.
- BindingOne beaten egg holds it if the potatoes are dry and mealy; a waxy boiling potato makes a wet mix that slumps. Using the white alone, as offered, gives a firmer, paler loaf.
- SageThe half teaspoon is most likely dried rubbed sage, the common stuffing seasoning of the period. Ground sage is stronger by volume -- use a scant half teaspoon.
- Yield and servingNo yield is given; the quantities suggest roughly three or four servings as a main course. The recipe says only "jelly," served alongside as it would be with roast meat.