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Dessert

Honey Nougat

A chewy candy made from sugar, honey, almonds, cherries, and egg white.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Honey Nougat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut almonds.

  2. Halve cherries.

Make the nougat

  1. Boil sugar and honey until it becomes brittle in cold water.

  2. Gradually pour the mixture onto the stiffly beaten egg white, beating constantly until thick.

  3. Add flavoring.

Set and cut

  1. Spread 1 inch thick on oiled paper in a shallow pan.

  2. Let stand in a dry place for 24 hours.

  3. Cut into cubes or strips.

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. Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Orange + honeytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,068 recipes

    Shared aroma: pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Honey + almondtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,069 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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

Sugar
Forms the firm, brittle body of the candy as it cooks and cools.
Clover honey
Adds sweetness and moisture, and keeps the candy softer and less grainy.
Egg white
Whipped to a foam that traps air, giving the nougat its light, chewy texture.
Blanched almonds
Add crunch and a nutty flavor that contrasts with the chewy candy.
Candied cherries
Add chewy pieces of fruit sweetness and color throughout the nougat.

The step that matters

Gradually pour the mixture onto the egg white. Pouring the hot syrup slowly into the stiffly beaten egg white, while beating constantly, cooks and stabilizes the foam. Pouring too fast can deflate the whites and leave the nougat dense.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, honey, almond, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, honey, almond, egg. 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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