Skip to main content
Dessert

Different Kinds of Nougat, Etc

A nougat made with honey, sugar, egg whites, flour water, wafer sheets, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Different Kinds of Nougat, Etc

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Whip the egg whites to a stiff froth.

  2. Melt and skim the honey, then boil the sugar until it reaches the crack stage.

  3. Add the honey and flour water to the sugar, stirring well.

  4. Gradually pour the sugar mixture into the whipped egg whites while stirring quickly.

Cook and set

  1. Continue stirring the mixture over low heat until it thickens, about 3 hours.

  2. Add the chopped almonds and mix well.

  3. Spread the mixture about 1 inch thick on 3 sheets of wafer placed on a baking plate.

  4. Cover with the remaining 3 sheets of wafer and press down with another baking plate.

  5. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

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).

  2. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Honey + sugartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,932 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Egg + almondtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that gives the nougat its light, airy structure.
Honey
Adds sweetness and moisture and keeps the nougat soft and chewy rather than brittle.
Sugar
Cooked to the crack stage, it hardens as it cools and gives the nougat its firm set.
Almonds
Add crunch and a nutty flavour that contrasts with the chewy base.
White wafer
Forms the top and bottom layers, holding the mixture in shape and keeping it from sticking.

The step that matters

Pouring the sugar into the egg whites. Adding hot sugar syrup too fast or without constant stirring can cook the egg whites unevenly or deflate the foam. Steady, quick stirring keeps the mixture smooth and airy.

“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.

More nougat recipes

Almond 15French 10Chocolate 9Peanut 7Ice Cream 6Chocolate Cake 5 See all 30 →

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes