Why it works: Almond and pistachio match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 693 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Nougat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the nuts
Boil the almonds in water, then peel the boiled almonds.
Dry the peeled almonds thoroughly.
Slice the almonds lengthwise and keep the sliced almonds hot in the oven.
Peel the pistachios, cut them into pieces, and place the pistachio pieces in the oven.
Make the syrup
In a copper pan, combine the sugar and a little water.
Boil the mixture until it forms a thick, clear syrup.
Add the hot almonds and pistachios to the syrup, stirring constantly.
Continue boiling until the sugar turns a good caramel or dark yellow color.
Set and turn out
Oil and drain a tin mold.
Press a layer of hot almonds into the bottom of the mold using a spoon dipped in oil.
Add another layer quickly, as the sugar hardens immediately.
Keep the almonds hot and fill the mold.
Once set, tap the end of the mold to turn it out.
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 + pistachiotop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together693 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Pistachio + nutstop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together425 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Almond + nutstop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together394 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Pistachio + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,233 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
- Sweet almonds
- Provide the main crunchy body and bulk of the nougat's set mass.
- Sugar
- Forms the syrup that hardens on cooling and caramelizes for color and flavor.
- Pistachio nuts
- Add extra nut texture and a contrasting flavor to the almond base.
The step that matters
Adding the almonds to the syrup and filling the mold quickly. Sugar syrup hardens as it cools, so the hot nuts must be added and pressed into the mold while the syrup is still fluid. Cold nuts or a delay can leave the nougat uneven and unset in places.
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, pistachio, sugar):
- Cashew nutfits better
- Brazil nutfits better
- Hazelnutfits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, pistachio, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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