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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. Combine 20 lbs of mixed scrap and 1 gallon of water in a kettle.

  2. Boil the mixture on the furnace until melted, then strain into another kettle.

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

Make and set the nougat

  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.

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

  4. Allow to set overnight.

Cut

  1. Cut into 5‑cent slices, about ½ inch thick and 4x2 inches in size.

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 foam to give the nougat its light, airy structure.
Mixed scrap
Melted and cooked to a syrup that sets into the firm, chewy body of the candy.
Grease
Adds fat that softens the texture and keeps the nougat from becoming brittle.
Almonds
Optional addition that adds crunch and nutty flavor to the set nougat.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture to 260°F (127°C). Cooking the sugar-based syrup to this temperature controls how much water remains, which determines whether the nougat sets firm and chewy rather than soft or sticky.

“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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