Why it works: Butter and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Salted Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the butter or olive oil in a pan until smoking hot.
Add the blanched almonds and cook until they begin to brown.
Sprinkle the salt over the almonds and stir until they are golden brown.
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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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Blanched almonds
- Form the main body of the snack and brown to give a toasted, nutty flavor.
- Butter or olive oil
- Conducts heat to the almonds and adds fat for richer flavor and even browning.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the almonds on the surface, giving a salty contrast to their sweetness.
The step that matters
Cooking the almonds until golden. The pan must be hot enough to brown the almonds, but they can scorch quickly once the sugars and proteins on their skins darken. Stirring keeps them colouring evenly and stops burnt spots that taste bitter.
“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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