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Dessert

Nougat

A sweet confection made by blanching and shredding almonds, baking them, then mixing with boiled sugar to form nougat.

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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch and shred the almonds.

  2. Spread the almonds on a tin plate and bake until nicely colored.

Make the nougat

  1. Melt the sugar in a saucepan until it boils and forms small bubbles.

  2. Add the hot almonds to the boiling sugar for a few minutes.

  3. Remove the almonds and press them onto a tin plate using a lemon.

Mold and set

  1. Prepare an oiled mold, ensuring it is free of excess grease.

  2. Line the mold with the nougat, pressing firmly to ensure it sticks.

  3. Use the nougat before it cools to prevent brittleness.

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, sweet base that holds the almonds together.

The step that matters

Use the nougat before it cools. Sugar mixtures harden quickly as they cool, so once the nougat sets it becomes brittle and hard to press into the mold. Shaping it while still warm keeps it workable and pliable.

“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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