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Almond Nonpareils, Green

Almond Nonpareils, Green is a confection of green almonds coated in sugar and colored nonpareils, then baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,969 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓

Almond Nonpareils, Green

Oven, in the book's wordsA gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Drain the green almonds preserved in brandy.

Coat and dry

  1. Dip each almond in sugar and roll them in colored nonpareils.

  2. Dry the coated almonds in a gentle oven at 300°F (150°C).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Almond + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,969 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  2. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Green almonds preserved in brandy
Form the central confection, with a firm, chewy texture and flavor from the brandy preserve.
Sugar
Forms a thin sweet coating that helps the nonpareils stick to each almond.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar):

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Chestnutfits about as well
  3. Walnutfits less well
  4. Hazelnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar. 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.

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