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 ↓
Salted Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the almonds
Blanch the almonds by pouring boiling water over them.
Remove the skins from the almonds.
Roast and season
Place the almonds in a pan and brown slightly in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
Remove from the oven and stir in the butter to moisten the nuts.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt to taste.
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
- Form the crunchy, toasted body of the snack once browned in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat that coats the nuts, moistening them and carrying flavour.
The step that matters
Brown the almonds slightly in the oven. Toasting develops nutty aroma through browning reactions, but too long turns the nuts bitter and dark. Watch them closely and stop once they are lightly golden.
“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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