Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Almond Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock
Place the scraped calves' feet in a porcelain-lined kettle with mace.
Cover the kettle with cold water.
Bring the mixture to a boil over moderate heat.
Add salt.
Reduce to a simmer.
Skim the surface.
Simmer until the meat falls from the bone.
Strain the stock into a bowl.
Let the stock cool.
Remove the fat from the stock.
Finish the soup
Return the stock to the kettle.
Add the pounded almonds mixed with rose water.
Simmer for 15 minutes.
Add lemon peel.
If using, boil the cream for a few minutes.
Stir the boiled cream into the soup before serving.
Add lemon juice before serving.
For mutton or veal, omit cream and mace.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,465 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Rose + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,174 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Cream + lemontop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,640 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,640 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Calves' feet
- Release gelatin into the stock, giving the soup body and a rich, silky texture.
- Blanched almonds
- Pounded and simmered, they thicken the soup and give it a creamy body and nutty flavour.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Skim and remove the fat from the stock. Fat and foam rising from the simmering stock can make the soup greasy and cloudy. Skimming while it simmers and chilling it to lift off the solidified fat leaves a cleaner, clearer base for the almonds.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, rose, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, rose, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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