Name: Nut Squares or Tablets
Ingredients: 10 lbs sugar; 4 lbs glucose; 2 quarts water; 1.5 lbs butter; a pinch of salt; ground nut meats (almond, pecan, walnut, or coconut flavors)

Why it works: Butter and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,594 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Nut Squares or Tablets

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

In a large pot, combine sugar, glucose, and water. Cook over medium heat until the mixture reaches 290°F (143°C).
Add butter and a pinch of salt, then continue cooking until it reaches 300°F (149°C).

Shape and serve

Remove from heat and stir in enough ground nut meats to thicken the mixture.
Pour the mixture onto a slab and roll it out as thin as possible.
Use a caramel cutter to mark the mixture in both directions, or form it into a loaf and run it through tablet rollers.
These squares can be enjoyed as is or dipped in chocolate.

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.

Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,594 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + meattop 34% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,866 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar: Provides the sweet base that cooks into a firm, brittle candy structure.
Glucose: Inhibits crystallization, keeping the candy smooth and preventing grainy texture.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a softer bite in the finished squares.
Ground nut meats: Stirred in off the heat to thicken the mixture and add nutty flavor.

The step that matters

Cooking to 300°F (149°C). Sugar syrup must reach the target temperature precisely, because small differences change the final hardness. Too little cooking leaves the squares soft and sticky, while overcooking makes them hard and prone to burning.

“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.