Why it works: Sugar and pecans are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,962 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Nougat
Ingredients
Directions
Cook and stir the sugar in a saucepan until it turns brown.
Once burnt, mix in the chopped pecans.
Pour the mixture onto a buttered marble surface.
Use a buttered rolling pin to roll it out.
When nearly cold, cut into strips and wrap each strip in oil paper.
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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Sugar + pecanstop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,962 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Granulated sugar
- Caramelizes to form the brittle, chewy base and gives the nougat its sweetness and color.
- Pecans
- Add crunch and a toasted, nutty flavor that contrasts with the caramelized sugar.
The step that matters
Cooking the sugar until brown. Sugar caramelizes only within a narrow temperature range, and once it passes the desired color it turns bitter and burnt. Stirring keeps it even so it browns uniformly without scorching in spots.
“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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