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Dessert

Alakuma, or Arabian Nougat

A nougat made with egg whites, glucose, sugar, almonds, and flavoring.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and almond 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 ↓

Alakuma, or Arabian Nougat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the egg whites

  1. Soak the egg whites in cold water for 8 hours, then beat until stiff.

Make the syrups

  1. Boil 4 lbs. of glucose to 255°F (124°C).

  2. Boil 6 lbs. of sugar and 1 lb. of glucose to 260°F (127°C).

Combine and set

  1. Pour the boiled glucose onto the beaten egg whites.

  2. Mix the mixture with the boiled sugar.

  3. Add the almonds and your chosen flavoring.

  4. Pour the mixture into a wooden bucket lined with waxed paper and wafers.

  5. Once cool, turn it upside down onto a board or pan.

  6. Remove the waxed paper.

  7. Cut.

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

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

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

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

  3. 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
Beaten into a foam that traps air and gives the nougat its light, airy structure.
Sugar
Boiled to a high temperature to form the firm, sweet body that sets as the nougat cools.
Glucose
Boiled syrup that stays smooth and resists crystallising, giving a chewy, tender texture.
Almonds
Add nutty flavour and a bite that contrasts with the soft, chewy base.

The step that matters

Boiling the sugar and glucose to the stated temperatures. Sugar syrup set by temperature: too low leaves the nougat soft and sticky, too high makes it hard and brittle. Hitting the stated temperatures controls the final texture.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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