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 ↓
Nougat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the almonds
Blanch the almonds in boiling water, then skin and cut them in half.
Lay the almonds on white paper in the oven with the door open to dry.
Make the nougat
Melt the sugar in a double boiler without adding water, stirring constantly until it boils.
Remove from heat and stir in the almonds immediately.
Pour the mixture into a warmed, greased flat tin pan.
Press the nougat flat to the bottom of the pan and cut while still warm.
Finish
Wrap the pieces in waxed paper.
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
- Almonds
- Provide the bulk and crunchy texture of the set candy.
- Sugar
- Melts and boils to a firm, sweet mass that binds the almonds together.
The step that matters
Cut the nougat while still warm. Nougat firms as it cools, so it must be pressed flat and cut before it sets. If it cools too far, it becomes hard to cut cleanly and may crack or shatter.
“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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