Why it works: Vanilla and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Filbert Bon Bons
Ingredients
Directions
Remove the husks from the roasted filberts and chop them finely.
Knead the chopped filberts into No. 1 fondant with XXXX sugar until you have a stiff paste.
Roll the mixture into balls the size of marbles.
Dip each ball in No. 1 fondant flavored with vanilla.
Place half a filbert on top of each dipped ball.
For a variation, dip the balls in chocolate instead.
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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Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Filbert + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Filbert + vanillatop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together38 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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
Swap the filbert
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vanilla, chocolate):
- Hazelnutfits better
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Filbertthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vanilla, chocolate. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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