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 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 the almonds
Shell the almonds and blanch them by boiling in water for a few minutes.
Slip off the skins and spread the almonds out to dry thoroughly.
Roast and season
Melt the butter in a dripping pan.
Stir the almonds into the melted butter.
Place in a 400°F (200°C) oven, stirring often until they begin to brown slightly.
Remove from the oven and shake in a colander to rid of excess grease.
Sprinkle with fine dry 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 body of the snack and brown lightly in the oven.
- Butter
- Carries heat evenly to the almonds and adds richness and a toasted flavor.
The step that matters
Drying the almonds after blanching. Almonds that stay damp will steam rather than roast in the butter and oven, so they brown unevenly and turn soft. Drying them thoroughly before roasting helps them crisp and color evenly.
“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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