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Dessert

Tutti Frutti Nougat

A nougat made with sugar, glucose, gelatine, egg whites, baking soda, cherries, pineapple, almonds, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pineapple and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 911 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Tutti Frutti Nougat

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a large kettle, combine 15 lbs of sugar, 7 lbs of glucose, and enough water to dissolve the sugar.

  2. Cook the mixture to 256 °F (125.5 °C).

Add the nougat ingredients

  1. Once cooled slightly, add 1 oz of soaked gelatine to soften it.

  2. Incorporate 4 oz of beaten egg whites and 2 tablespoons of baking soda until well mixed.

  3. Add 1 lb of French cherries, 1 lb of pineapple, and 1.5 lbs of Valencia almonds, along with vanilla flavor.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture into a box lined with wafers and let it set overnight.

  2. Cut into 5‑cent slices.

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. Pineapple + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together911 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Pineapple + almondtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together428 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Forms the sweet, firm body of the nougat as it cooks and sets.
Glucose
Inhibits sugar crystallization, keeping the nougat smooth and chewy rather than grainy.
Egg whites
Trap air when beaten, giving the nougat a light, aerated texture.
Gelatine
Provides elasticity and body, helping the nougat hold its shape when set.
Valencia almonds
Add crunch and richness that contrast with the chewy base.

The step that matters

Cook the syrup to 256 °F (125.5 °C). Sugar syrup must reach the right temperature to set firm once cooled. Undercooked syrup stays soft and sticky, while overcooked syrup turns hard and brittle.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, almond, vanilla):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Blueberryfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, almond, vanilla. 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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