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Dessert

Roasting Almonds

Roasted almonds flavored with cocoa butter, oleomargarine, and orange peel oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Roasting Almonds

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Roast

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Spread raw almonds in a roasting pan to a depth of 1 inch.

  3. Roast the almonds, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking.

  4. Remove them when they are crisp but not brown to avoid bitterness.

Coat

  1. For chocolate-coated almonds, mix warm roasted almonds with cocoa butter, oleomargarine, and a few drops of oil of orange peel.

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. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

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

  2. Almond + cocoa buttertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Cocoa butter + orangetop 50% 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

Raw almonds
Form the main body of the snack and turn crisp and toasty when roasted.
Cocoa butter
Provides fat that helps the coating melt smoothly and cling to the almonds.
Oleomargarine
Adds fat that gives the coating a smooth, rich texture.
Oil of orange peel
Contributes a citrus aroma that flavors the chocolate coating.

The step that matters

Remove the almonds when crisp but not brown. Nuts keep darkening after they leave the oven, and over-browned almonds taste bitter. Pulling them while still golden lets residual heat finish the crunch without scorching the flavor.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, cocoa butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, cocoa butter. 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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