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Dessert

Salted Almonds

Roasted almonds seasoned with coarse sea salt and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Pour boiling water over the almonds to blanch them.

  2. Let the almonds stand for a few minutes.

  3. Drain and rinse the almonds with cold water.

  4. Remove the skins from the almonds.

  5. Dry the almonds on a clean towel.

Season and bake

  1. Place the almonds in a shallow pan.

  2. Sprinkle the almonds liberally with coarse sea salt.

  3. Add pieces of butter about the size of a fingertip, spaced closely together.

  4. Bake the almonds in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

  5. Watch carefully and shake the pan often until the almonds are evenly light brown.

Finish

  1. If there is excess salt, place the almonds in a clean towel.

  2. Rub the almonds to remove the excess salt.

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 + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Almonds
Form the crunchy, nutty base that toasts and browns in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat that carries flavor and promotes even browning and a rich coating.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the almonds on the surface and adds a crisp, savory contrast.

The step that matters

Watch carefully and shake the pan often while baking. Nuts go from light brown to burnt quickly because sugars and proteins brown fast at high heat. Shaking the pan keeps them evenly toasted.

“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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