Why it works: Syrup and peanut work together. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 278 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Peanut or Coconut Brittle
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the syrup until it begins to darken.
Stir in the nuts.
Pour the mixture onto an oiled sheet.
Cut into squares once cooled.
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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Syrup + peanuttop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together278 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Syrup
- Sugar base that caramelises as it boils, setting firm and giving the brittle its sweet, toasty flavour.
- Peanuts or coconut
- Add crunch and nutty flavour, and stay crisp in the set sugar.
The step that matters
Boil the syrup until it begins to darken. Sugar syrup hardens as it cools, and the stage of boiling sets its texture. Stop too early and the brittle stays soft and sticky; go too far and it turns bitter. Watching for the first hint of colour helps you hit the right point.
“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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