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Dessert

Almonds, Deviled

Roasted almonds coated in butter, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 246 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almonds, Deviled

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Blanch the almonds in boiling water for 1 minute, then drain and remove skins.

Season and bake

  1. Melt the butter in a pan, add mustard and Worcestershire sauce, and mix well.

  2. Add the almonds to the mixture, season with salt and pepper, and stir to coat.

  3. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown, stirring occasionally.

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 + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together246 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,120 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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
Form the crunchy base that becomes the snack once dry-roasted and browned.
Butter
Carries the mustard and Worcestershire flavors and helps the almonds brown and coat evenly.
Mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavor that balances the richness of the butter.
Worcestershire sauce
Adds savory, tangy depth and aroma to the coating.

The step that matters

Baking until golden brown. Almonds darken quickly in the oven because their oils and sugars brown fast. Stirring occasionally helps them colour evenly and prevents the edges from burning before the centres are toasted.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, mustard, sauce, pepper):

  1. Black-eyed peafits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, mustard, sauce, pepper. 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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