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Dessert

Scrap Nougat

A nougat made from scrap, water, egg whites, grease, and optional almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,645 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Scrap Nougat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. In a kettle, combine 20 lbs of mixed scrap and 1 gallon of water.

  2. Set on the furnace and boil until melted, then strain into another kettle.

  3. Cook the mixture to 260 °F (127 °C).

Whip and pour

  1. Pour the hot mixture over the whipped egg whites and beat until very thick.

  2. Add 3 oz of grease and pour into a wafer-lined box.

Set and cut

  1. Allow to set overnight.

  2. Cut into 5-cent slices, about ½ inch thick and 4×2 inches in size.

  3. If desired, add 2 lbs of almonds just before pouring out.

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. Egg + almondtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that gives the nougat its light, airy structure.
Mixed scrap
Provides the sugar base that cooks down and sets firm as the candy cools.
Grease
Adds fat that softens the texture and makes the set nougat less brittle.
Almonds
Add crunch and a nutty flavour to the finished nougat.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture to 260 °F (127 °C). The final temperature controls firmness once the candy sets. Stopping early leaves the nougat soft and sticky, while overheating makes it hard and brittle.

“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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