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Hazelnut Butter

A spread made from toasted hazelnuts mixed with parsley, tarragon, and leeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,563 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Hazelnut Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Toast the hazelnuts until golden, then chop finely.

Combine and serve

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped hazelnuts, parsley, tarragon, and leeks, then mix well until all ingredients are evenly distributed.

  2. Serve as a spread for hors d'oeuvres or with breakfast meats.

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. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Parsley + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together759 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Tarragon + leektop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together51 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Hazelnut + tarragontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together19 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Hazelnut + parsleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together74 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Hazelnuts
Supply fat and a toasted, nutty flavor that forms the body of the spread.
Parsley
Adds fresh, green aroma and a light herbal flavor.
Tarragon
Adds a distinct aromatic, slightly anise-like flavor.
Leeks
Add a mild onion-like aroma and savory background flavor.

The step that matters

Toasting the hazelnuts until golden. Toasting drives browning reactions that develop the nutty flavor. Nuts left too pale taste raw, while over-toasted nuts turn bitter, so watch them closely and stop as soon as they turn golden.

Swap the hazelnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, tarragon, leek):

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Hazelnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, tarragon, leek. 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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