Skip to main content
Dessert

Nougat of Almonds

A confection made by coating almonds in a sugar nougat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 Almonds

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the almonds

  1. Scald the almonds and remove the skins.

  2. Wash and dry the almonds in a napkin, then split each almond in half.

  3. Place the almonds on a baking sheet and put them in a slow oven (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

  1. Oil a mold with a paste brush and let it drain on a plate.

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

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 nougat.
Sugar
Melts and sets into the firm, chewy candy that binds the almonds together.

The step that matters

Adding the almonds to the melted sugar. The sugar must be fully melted and the almonds hot so the syrup stays fluid and coats them evenly. Cold almonds would cool the syrup and cause it to seize, while stirring too hard can break the almonds apart.

“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.

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes