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Dessert

Almond Flummery

A dessert made from calf's feet broth, thick cream, and blanched sweet and bitter almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,130 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓

Almond Flummery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Boil the calves’ feet in 2 quarts of water until the meat falls from the bones.

  2. Strain the mixture to obtain the clear jelly.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir in ½ pint of thick cream.

  2. Blanch and beat the sweet and bitter almonds together, then mix them in.

  3. Heat the mixture in a porcelain kettle until it comes to a boil, then strain it again.

  4. When warm, pour it into cups or glasses.

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. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Calves’ feet
Release gelatin as they simmer, giving the jelly its setting power.
Thick cream
Adds richness and a soft, smooth body to the set dessert.
Sweet almonds
Supply the main nutty flavour and a fine, creamy texture once beaten.
Bitter almonds
Add a sharper, more intense almond aroma that balances the sweet almonds.

The step that matters

Heat the mixture to a boil, then strain it again. Bringing the mixture to a boil ensures it is hot enough to keep the almond and cream mixture smooth and evenly combined, and straining removes almond bits and any lumps so the flummery sets clear and fine-textured.

“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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