Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Almond Nougat
Ingredients
Directions
Make the nougat base
In a copper basin, combine honey and egg whites; beat until foamy.
Set the basin over a gentle fire, covered with ashes, and stir continuously for 2 hours.
Cook sugar with cream of tartar until it reaches 290°F (hard crack stage).
While one person stirs the egg mixture, slowly pour in the hot syrup.
Mix in the dried nuts thoroughly.
Set and cut
Pour the mixture into a starch tray lined with ordinary paper and then wafer paper.
Spread evenly with a palette knife and cover with wafer paper.
Let it cool for 10 to 12 hours.
Once cool, cut into 3 to 4-inch pieces and wrap in wax paper.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Honey + pistachiotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together130 recipes
Shared aroma: pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Cream + pistachiotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together634 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + pistachiotop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,233 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Whites of eggs
- Whipped into foam to build the light, airy structure of the nougat.
- Honey
- Adds sweetness and moisture and keeps the nougat soft and chewy.
- Sugar
- Cooks to a hard crack syrup that sets the nougat firm when cooled.
- Pistachio nuts or blanched almonds
- Add crunch and texture throughout the chewy nougat.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidity helps keep the sugar syrup smooth and prevents crystallisation.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot syrup into the egg mixture. Pour the syrup slowly while someone keeps stirring, so the hot sugar cooks the egg whites gently into a smooth foam instead of scrambling them or leaving streaks.
Swap the pistachio
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (honey, egg, sugar, cream):
- Almondfits about as well
- Pistachiothe original
- Walnutfits about as well
- Pecansfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against honey, egg, sugar, cream. 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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