Why it works: Sugar and peanut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,545 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Peanut Brittle
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the sugar over medium heat in a saucepan, stirring until it melts and turns light brown.
Quickly add the crushed peanuts and mix well.
Pour the mixture onto a breadboard and roll it out as thin as possible while warm.
Remove from the board while still warm.
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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Sugar + peanuttop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,545 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Granulated sugar
- Melts and caramelizes to form the brittle's hard, brittle candy base and sweet flavor.
- Crushed peanuts
- Provide crunch and nutty flavor distributed through the set candy.
The step that matters
Working quickly once the peanuts are added. Caramelized sugar hardens as it cools, so it sets fast. Once the peanuts are mixed in, the candy must be spread thin while still warm, or it will set too thick and be hard to roll out.
“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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