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Dessert

Nougat of a L Monde

A nougat made from almonds and sugar, baked and molded.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Nougat of a L Monde

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Scald the almonds, remove the skins, and wash and dry them in a napkin.

  2. Split each almond into halves and place them on a baking sheet.

  3. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until they acquire a light fawn color.

Make the nougat

  1. In a sugar boiler, stir the sugar over a slow fire until it melts and forms small bubbles.

  2. Once the sugar is dissolved, quickly add the hot almonds and gently mix without breaking them.

  3. Keep the nougat mixture warm near the oven or stove.

Shape and set

  1. Oil the inside of a mold with a paste brush and let excess oil drain off.

  2. Drop some nougat onto a slightly oiled baking sheet and spread it to 1/8 inch thick.

  3. Immediately place the spread nougat into the mold and press it into shape using your fingers and a lemon.

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. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Jordan almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavor of the confection, and their texture holds the nougat together.
Sugar
Melts and sets into the firm, chewy matrix that binds the almonds together.

The step that matters

Keep the nougat warm while shaping. Once the melted sugar cools, it becomes stiff and hard to spread or press, so the nougat must stay warm and be shaped immediately after it is spread.

“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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