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Dessert

Cocoanut Nougat

A sweet confection made from albumen, sugar, glucose, honey, gelatin, glycerine, paraffin, cocoa butter, and coconut.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cocoa butter share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 49 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cocoanut Nougat

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 270°F (132°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Beat the albumen until stiff and set aside.

  2. In a large pot, cook the sugar, glucose, and enough water to dissolve to 270°F (132°C).

Make the nougat

  1. Turn off the heat, let the dasher work, and add the beaten albumen.

  2. In another kettle, heat the honey, dissolved gelatine, glycerine, paraffin, and cocoa butter until hot but not boiling.

  3. Combine the second mixture with the first, let the dasher work, and add Macaroon coconut to taste.

Set

  1. Spread the mixture in wafer-lined boards.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + honeytop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,932 recipes

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

  3. Honey + cocoa buttertop 48% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Albumen
Whipped to stiff foam, it traps air and gives the nougat its light, airy structure.
Sugar
Cooked to 270°F, it forms the sweet, firm base that sets as the candy cools.
Glucose
Inhibits sugar crystallization, keeping the nougat smooth and chewy rather than grainy.
Honey
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps keep the nougat soft and tender.
Gelatine
Provides elasticity and body, helping the nougat hold its shape and chew.
Cocoa butter
Adds fat for a smooth mouthfeel and rich flavor.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten albumen off the heat. The sugar syrup must be cool enough not to scramble the beaten albumen, yet still warm enough to fold in smoothly. Adding the foam while the syrup is too hot can cook it and collapse the air that gives the nougat its lightness.

“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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