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Salted Almonds
Pour boiling water over shelled almonds and let them stand a short time. When the dry brown husk can be easily rubbed off and the almonds are "blanched," then stir into melted butter; let them stand; add salt and brown in the oven. When taken from the oven place them upon soft, porous paper to prevent their being "buttery." If this is not sufficient dry them on a towel. The above is a splendid addition to a luncheon or dinner. -Mrs. John Fletcher.
A short recipe with no quantities, temperature or time, which is typical of contributed community-cookbook entries. The proportions below are the standard ones and the technique needs only a little clarification.
- QuantitiesThe original gives none. A workable proportion is 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 to 2 teaspoons of fine salt to 1 lb (about 3 cups) of blanched almonds. Too much butter is exactly the problem the paper draining is meant to fix.
- BlanchingBoiling water over the shelled nuts for one minute is enough; much longer and the almonds soften and lose their snap. The skins slip off between finger and thumb while still warm, and the nuts should be dried thoroughly before they meet the butter.
- Oven temperatureThe original gives none; "brown in the oven" is best read as a gentle heat, and 325-350F works. Almonds carry a great deal of oil and go from golden to acrid in a minute or two, so use the lower end and stir every few minutes.
- TimingExpect 15 to 20 minutes at 325F, stirring two or three times. They will not seem fully crisp when hot; the crunch arrives as they cool, so pull them at pale gold rather than deep brown.
- SaltingThe recipe salts before roasting, which helps the salt adhere to the buttered surface. Fine salt clings better than coarse; if you prefer flaky salt, add a second pinch as they come out of the oven.
- "Soft, porous paper"This meant unglazed butcher's or blotting paper. Paper towel or a brown paper bag does the same job, and spreading them in a single layer keeps them from steaming each other.
- Yield and keepingA pound serves about twelve as a nibble at table. Once fully cool they keep a week in an airtight tin; any residual warmth trapped in the container will turn them leathery.
Salted almonds belong to the elaborate table service of the late Victorian and Edwardian dinner, where small dishes of nuts, olives and bonbons stood at intervals down the cloth or in individual dishes at each place, to be eaten between courses. They were not food so much as furnishings for the table, part of the same impulse that produced salted pecans, glace nuts and sugared violets. Almonds were a comparative luxury in American kitchens, sold shelled or in the shell, and blanching them at home was an ordinary kitchen chore rather than something one bought done. The attribution to Mrs. John Fletcher, by her husband's name as was the convention, marks this as a contributed recipe of the sort that filled community and subscription cookbooks of the period, where the compiler's job was to collect rather than to standardise, which is why quantities and oven heats so often go unstated.