Why it works: Almond and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,875 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Salted Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the almonds
Blanch the almonds by covering them with boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes.
Drain the almonds and cover them with cold water.
Remove the skins and dry the almonds on a towel.
Fry and salt
Heat olive oil in a pan until very hot.
Fry the almonds until golden brown.
Drain on brown paper and sprinkle with salt while hot.
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 + olivetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Almonds
- Provide the crunchy nut base that is fried and salted.
- Olive oil
- Conducts heat into the almonds, frying them to a golden, crisp surface.
The step that matters
Fry the almonds until golden brown. Almonds darken quickly once the oil is very hot, and they keep cooking from residual heat after leaving the pan. Pulling them at golden brown keeps them crisp rather than 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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