Why it works: Almond and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,875 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Salted Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
Heat olive oil in a skillet until smoking hot.
Add almonds with skins on and stir until browned.
Pour off the oil and sprinkle with salt.
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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Almond + olivetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,875 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
- Almonds
- Provide the crunchy main body, and their skins brown to develop a deeper nutty flavor.
- Olive oil
- Conducts heat quickly for browning and carries flavor onto the almonds.
The step that matters
Stirring the almonds until browned. The skins brown through the Maillard reaction at high heat, which adds deep flavor. If the almonds sit too long or the oil is too hot, the skins scorch and taste bitter, so keep them moving and watch closely.
“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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