Why it works: Butter and almond 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
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Melt the butter in a baking pan until hot.
Bake and cool
Add the almonds and sprinkle with salt.
Bake until the almonds are a delicate brown and the salt adheres.
Pour the almonds onto a sieve and let them cool.
Serve cold on a small dish.
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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Butter + almondtop 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
- Provide the crunchy, nutty bulk of the snack that the butter and salt coat.
- Butter
- Carries the salt to the nuts and helps them brown evenly in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake until a delicate brown. Almonds darken quickly once their sugars and proteins begin to brown, so they can go from pale to bitter within minutes. Pulling them at a delicate golden brown keeps them sweet and lets the salt stick to the butter coating.
“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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