Why it works: Almond and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Salted Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a cool oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a bowl, combine the blanched almonds, melted butter, and fine salt.
Stir well to coat the almonds evenly.
Bake
Spread the mixture on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven until browned.
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 + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Blanched almonds
- Form the crunchy main body of the snack and brown in the oven.
- Melted butter
- Coats the almonds, carries the salt evenly, and helps them brown and taste rich.
The step that matters
Bake until browned. Browning comes from the Maillard reaction between almond proteins and natural sugars, which speeds up near the end. Pull the almonds once they are golden, since a few extra minutes can turn them bitter and burnt.
“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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