Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Grilled Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup
Dry the blanched almonds thoroughly.
Boil the sugar and water in a saucepan until it reaches a 'hairs' stage.
Caramelize the almonds
Add the almonds to the syrup and stir occasionally as they fry.
Remove from heat when the almonds turn a faint yellow-brown.
Stir until the syrup turns back to sugar and clings irregularly to the nuts.
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.
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Blanched almonds
- Form the crunchy core that the sugar syrup fries and coats.
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, once stirred, recrystallizes into a sandy coating that clings to the nuts.
The step that matters
Remove from heat when the almonds turn a faint yellow-brown. Sugar keeps darkening from residual heat after the pan leaves the stove. Waiting too long can scorch the syrup, giving a bitter, burnt flavor instead of a light, sweet coating.
“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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