Why it works: Almond and butter 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 ↓
Salt Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Blanch the almonds and remove their skins.
Dry them well after peeling.
Fry and salt
Melt the butter or olive oil in a chafing dish over medium heat.
Add the almonds and fry until golden brown, stirring occasionally.
Pour off all the fat so the almonds are perfectly dry.
Sprinkle the almonds generously with coarse sea salt.
Continue stirring for a few minutes, then serve cold as snacks.
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 + buttertop 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
- Almonds
- Form the crunchy body of the snack, browning in the hot fat to develop a nutty flavour.
- Butter or olive oil
- Conducts heat to fry the almonds evenly and carries flavour and a rich mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Pour off all the fat so the almonds are perfectly dry. Surface moisture and leftover fat make the almonds soggy and greasy as they cool, and stop the coarse salt from sticking. Thorough draining keeps them crisp.
“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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