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Snack

Almonds, Salted

A snack of blanched almonds fried in salad oil and seasoned with celery salt and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Almonds, Salted

Ingredients

Directions

Fry the almonds

  1. Heat the salad oil in a pan.

  2. Fry the almonds in the oil until nicely browned.

  3. Drain the almonds well.

Season and serve

  1. Toss the almonds in a sheet of strong paper with the celery salt and cayenne pepper.

  2. Serve in small fancy paper cases.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Almond + celerytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Almond + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,566 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Blanched whole almonds
Form the crunchy body of the snack and brown to a nutty flavour when fried.
Salad oil
Conducts heat to brown the almonds evenly and carries flavour into the nuts.
Celery salt
Adds savoury salt flavour that clings to the drained, oily almond surface.
Cayenne pepper
Adds a sharp, warming heat that contrasts with the salt and nuttiness.

The step that matters

Drain the almonds well. Surplus oil left on the nuts makes the seasoning slide off and the almonds greasy. Thorough draining lets the celery salt and cayenne stick to the surface and keeps the nuts crisp.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, pepper):

  1. Black-eyed peafits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Walnutfits better
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, pepper. 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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