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Dessert

Nougat Candy

A confection made by blanching almonds, drying them, and coating them in a rich brown sugar syrup, then setting in molds.

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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch the almonds and cut them lengthwise into thin strips.

  2. Lay the almond strips in front of the fire to dry.

Make the nougat

  1. Melt the sugar in a saucepan until it becomes a rich brown.

  2. Add the dried almonds to the melted sugar and mix well.

  3. Grease small molds with almond oil.

  4. Pour the syrup into the molds and use the handle of an oiled teaspoon to spread it evenly.

Cool and unmold

  1. Allow to cool, then turn out the nougat candy.

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

Almonds
Provide the bulk and crunchy texture that the set sugar holds together.
Loaf sugar
Melts and browns to a syrup that hardens on cooling, binding the almonds into a firm candy.

The step that matters

Melting the sugar to a rich brown. Sugar darkens quickly once it starts to caramelize, so it can go from amber to burnt and bitter in moments. Watching the color closely keeps the flavor sweet and nutty and the syrup fluid enough to pour and spread before it sets.

“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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