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Dessert

Nougat De Menage

A honey and almond nougat made by roasting almonds, boiling honey, mixing, and pressing onto wafer sheets.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Honey and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,069 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Nougat De Menage

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 the almonds

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Roast half of the almonds in the oven. Set aside the other half of the almonds.

Make the nougat

  1. In a large pot, bring the honey to a boil.

  2. Add the reserved almonds and stir continuously with a long spatula. Cook until the almonds start to crackle.

  3. Test a small amount in cold water; if it breaks cleanly, it's done.

  4. Quickly mix in the roasted almonds.

  5. Remove the pot from heat after one minute.

Shape and cut

  1. Dust a surface with cornstarch and cover it with wafer sheets, forming a square.

  2. Pour the nougat onto the wafers and spread it evenly with a rolling pin to about 1 inch thick.

  3. Cover the top with more wafer sheets immediately.

  4. Place a square board on top. Weigh down the board and press the nougat for 10 to 12 minutes.

  5. Remove the nougat.

  6. Cut it into bars measuring 8 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide using a crescent knife.

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. Honey + almondtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,069 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Honey
Forms the sweet, sticky base that sets into the chewy body of the nougat.
Almonds
Add crunch and texture, with roasted almonds adding toasted, nutty flavour.

The step that matters

Testing the honey in cold water. Honey must reach the right temperature to set firm. The cold-water test shows when the syrup has cooked enough; removing it too early leaves a soft nougat, while overcooking makes it hard and brittle.

“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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