Why it works: Sugar and peanut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,545 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Peanut Brittle
Ingredients
Directions
In a pan over medium heat, add the sugar and stir until melted.
Once melted, quickly stir in the chopped peanuts or walnuts.
Pour the mixture onto a greased baking sheet and spread it thinly using a broad knife dipped in cold water.
Allow to cool and then cut into blocks.
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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Sugar + peanuttop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,545 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Granulated sugar
- Melts to form the hard, brittle candy base once cooled.
- Peanuts or walnuts
- Add crunch and nutty flavour to the set candy.
The step that matters
Stirring the nuts in quickly once the sugar has melted. Sugar left on the heat keeps darkening and can burn or turn bitter, and it sets rapidly as it cools. Adding the nuts promptly, then spreading the mixture thin before it hardens, keeps the candy even and easy to work with.
“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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