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Soft Chocolate Nougat

When I came to England, wishing desperately to conform, I always produced a homemade Christmas pudding, which none of my children really liked, plus this parrot pudding (as my sons called this soft chocolate nougat), which they loved.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and biscuit match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 388 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 8
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Toast the almonds in a dry pan over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until fragrant. Cool, then chop roughly.

  2. Crush the digestive biscuits to coarse crumbs in a bag with a rolling pin or in a food processor.

  3. Line a 20cm/8in loaf tin with baking parchment.

  4. Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Whisk the sugar, whole egg and egg yolk together, then cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until thick and the mixture reaches 160°F (71°C).

  5. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the butter, a few cubes at a time, until smooth, then sift in the cocoa powder and whisk it through.

  6. Stir in the orange liqueur, chopped almonds and biscuit crumbs until evenly combined.

  7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and press it level. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until firm.

  8. Turn out and slice. Decorate with candied flowers or sugared almonds, or serve with whipped cream if using (optional).

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Almond + biscuittop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together388 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Almond + orangetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Almond + buttertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,198 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Butter + cocoa powdertop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,117 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Sugar + biscuittop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,873 recipes

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

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

Flavor stand-ins for the orange

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

  1. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  2. Coconutbetter flavor fit
  3. Raspberrybetter flavor fit
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, butter, sugar, cocoa powder, egg, biscuit. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).