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 ↓
Turon Blanco
Ingredients
Directions
Make the nougat
In a bright copper saucepan, combine icing sugar, egg whites, and flower water.
Whisk over low heat until the mixture reaches a stiff meringue consistency.
Stir in the blanched almonds and pistachios until well blended.
Mould and store
Pour the mixture into small straight molds brushed with almond oil.
Allow the bars to firm up, then pack in an airtight tin between layers of greaseproof paper.
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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Rose + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,465 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Rose + pistachiotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together135 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Icing sugar
- Provides sweetness and, dissolved with the egg whites, forms the body of the nougat.
- Egg whites
- Whisked with heat and sugar, they build a stiff foam that sets the bars into a firm structure.
- Blanched almonds
- Add bite and body to the nougat, giving the bars their chewy texture.
- Pistachios
- Add crunch and a nutty flavour that contrasts with the sweet, soft base.
The step that matters
Whisking over low heat to a stiff meringue. Heat must be gentle enough to dissolve the sugar and cook the egg whites without scrambling them, while whisking traps air. Underwhipped or overheated egg whites will not set firmly, so the bars may stay soft or turn grainy.
“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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