Substituting types of nuts

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DanniA

Assistant Cook
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
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12
A recipe I'm going to be preparing calls for a total of two cups of crushed almonds to be used through out the cooking process. I was wondering if anyone has any experience substituting almonds for other types of nuts, and if so what kind would you recomend? I've made the dish a couple times in the past and like the almonds just fine, just looking to try something new this time. Thank!
 
Hi, welcome to the group!

I'm not a lover of almonds so almost always replace them with pecans or walnuts or just leave them out. Depends of the recipe though. What are you making??

smiles,T
 
Almonds have a very distinctive flavour as you surely know. For some reason, they just seem to 'go' with certain flavours better than other nuts. It's for ths reason that I would rarely substitute almonds. Having said that, I would be inclined to used pignoli nuts in place of almonds, should the mood strike me.
I find distinctive differences between walnuts and pecans, as well. In fact, I prefer pecans to walnuts. However, I find it easire to substitute walnuts for pecans or vice versa all the time.
I've been known to substitute cashews for peanuts from time to time, too.
 
Different dishes just call for different kinds of nuts. Some - only almonds will do - and some others a different nut. I suppose it depends on individual taste to a point. For example, pralines, anything other than pecans would be awful. For brownies, pecans or walnuts - for pesto, pine nuts, although some use walnuts (but I don't). Some recipes seem to deman certain nuts.
 
I agree with those that say almonds are a bit hard to sub for in the dishes they are used in.
 
I was looking at a recipe for mole sauce yesterday and wondered how walnuts would substitute for almonds. They'd be different but pretty good, I think.
 
It all depends on what sort of a dish you are referring to. Is it a dessert, is it a marinade or gravy.

In a dessert if it calls for almonds you can alter the nuts but the outcome will not be the same. If you absolutely have to add a tiny bit of almond extract to it. In that case you can omit the almonds but still trick your senses to believing there is almond in there.

We use almond powder in a lot of our marinades and gravies. In that case we use blanched almonds and I almost always interchange that with cashews. The taste is almost unrecognizable once the gravy cooks down.
 
I always use crushed almonds instead of other nuts. They are my favorite and I am not a fan of other nuts.

I am sure you can substitute any type of nuts you want.
 
I'm unlikely to just go out and buy an ingredient for certain dishes. If I didn't think of it on grocery day, then I substitute. The results are sometimes surprisingly different -- as in a pleasant surprise. Like when I used pistachios to make pesto. We discovered we liked it better than pine nuts. I rarely bake, and that is a lot less forgiving. Some things are obvious -- for example, without almonds it simply is not green beans almondine. If you put in some other kinds of nuts, rename the dish!
 
I have a number of cake recipes that call for ground almonds. It would never occur to me to use anything else as the oil content and texture will probably be very different. For savoury dishes and sauces, where things aren't quite so critical, you could try ground hazelnuts instead. There are a number of Spanish sauce recipes that are very similar apart from the fact that one will use ground almonds whereas another will use ground hazelnuts.
 
I love most types of nuts and like to experiment with different recipes with different types of nuts, but like others have mentioned, each type has their distinct flavours so certain considerations are necessary, as to what goes well with what.
Are you making some sweets? If it is apple based, walnuts are also delicious with apples, if it is chocolate based, hazelnuts are particularly good, though chocs go well with just about any nuts!
 
Hello Danni

What is the dish u make with the almonds?
Different nuts go with different dishes.
But hazelnuts cursh to the same texture as almonds, so maybe they are a good substitute.

Mel
 
I believe it's very difficult to substitute one nut for another. Each has a distinctive flavour which cannot be copied.
Would you substitute veal for pork? Do you consider pheasant a god sub for chicken? How about buffalo for lamb?
See what I mean; they're all meats, but very distinctive in flavour, and the same goes with nuts.
Walnuts
Peanuts
Pecan nuts
Hazelnuts
Pine-nuts
Macadamia nuts
Brazil nuts
Almonds
Cashews

ALL different flavours with different uses.

Now that doesn't mean you can't use one instead of another, but you will definitely get a different flavour AND a different texture. I'd doubt there are many of us who could actually describe the taste of each nut, but on a blind tasting, I'm pretty sure we'd be able to tell the difference.

Go ahead and sub one for the other - don't be afraid!! What I would suggest is that you taste each (type of) nut before you prepare the dish, and try to commit that flavour to memory.
 
finely ground almonds also produce a somewhat almond 'flour' that is difficult to obtain w/some other nuts. Ground pecans can give you a similar consistency, although the taste and moisture content is different, and so, like Clive says, changes your recipe. If you like the change, that's perfect - just don't expect it to come out the same.
 
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