Why it works: Almond and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,875 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Salt Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Blanch the almonds.
Pour olive oil over the almonds and add salt.
Let them stand for 1 to 2 hours, stirring frequently.
Bake
Place the almonds in a single layer in a large pan.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 20 minutes, shaking the pan frequently for even browning.
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 + olivetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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 during baking to develop nutty flavor.
- Olive oil
- Coats the almonds so the salt adheres and the nuts toast evenly without drying out.
- Fine salt
- Seasons the almonds and sticks to the oily surface, adding savory flavor.
The step that matters
Shaking the pan during baking. Almonds brown unevenly where they touch hot metal. Shaking the pan frequently moves them around, so every nut toasts at a similar rate instead of some burning while others stay pale.
“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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