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Dessert

Denver Nougat

A nougat made with sugar, glucose, egg whites, cocoa butter, paraffin, nuts, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Denver Nougat

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrups

  1. Dissolve 6 lbs. sugar and 5 lbs. glucose in water and cook to 244°F (118°C).

  2. In a separate pot, cook 6 lbs. sugar, 5 lbs. glucose, and water to dissolve, with ½ lb. cocoa butter and 5 lbs. paraffin, to 274°F (135°C).

Combine and set

  1. Pour the hot mixture in a fine stream over the beaten egg whites while a helper stirs.

  2. Pour this mixture in a fine stream into the first batch.

  3. Add nut meats to taste and flavor with vanilla.

  4. Spread the mixture in a wafer-lined starch board.

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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + cocoa buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together49 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  4. Egg + meattop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

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

  5. Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 foam that gives the nougat its light, airy structure.
Sugar
Cooked into syrup that sets firm and provides the main sweetness.
Glucose
Interferes with sugar crystals, keeping the nougat smooth and less grainy.
Cocoa butter
Adds fat that gives a smoother, richer mouthfeel.
Paraffin
Firms the mixture as it cools, helping it hold its set.

The step that matters

Pour the hot syrup in a fine stream over the egg whites. Pouring too quickly or unevenly can scramble or deflate the whites. A thin, steady stream while stirring lets the hot syrup cook and stabilize the foam evenly, so the nougat stays light and uniform.

“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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