Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Deviled Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Blanch and shred the almonds.
Fry the almonds in butter until light brown.
Season and serve
In a bowl, mix chutney, chopped gherkins, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Toss the fried almonds in the mixture.
Serve on croutons of fried bread.
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.
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Almond + breadtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together858 recipes
Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Almonds
- Provide the crunchy, nutty base that the coating clings to.
- Butter
- Fat that frying browns the almonds in, adding richness and aroma.
- Chutney
- Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the savoury coating.
- Gherkins
- Contribute sharp acidity and a briny crunch to the coating.
- Worcestershire sauce
- Adds savoury depth and tang to the coating.
The step that matters
Fry the almonds in butter until light brown. Butter browns quickly and can burn before the nuts are evenly coloured, leaving bitter flavour. Stopping at light brown keeps the almonds sweet and nutty, and the sugars in the chutney can scorch later if the nuts are over-browned.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sauce, pepper, bread):
- Beansfits better
- Lima beansfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Almondthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sauce, pepper, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Almond Soup60 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.