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 or Roasted Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Blanch the almonds in boiling water, then drain and cool.
Season and roast
In a bowl, combine the blanched almonds with melted butter and salt, stirring until well mixed.
Spread the mixture on a baking pan.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes, stirring often, until they are bright yellow-brown and crisp.
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
- Provide the crisp, nutty body that the roasting turns golden and crunchy.
- Melted butter
- Coats the nuts so they brown evenly and carry the seasoning.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the nuts and sharpens their roasted flavour.
The step that matters
Stirring during the bake. Nuts near the pan edges or bottom can scorch before the centres toast. Stirring often moves them around so the browning is even, and the nuts are pulled out once they turn bright yellow-brown and 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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