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Dessert

Almond Cream

A chilled almond custard made with milk, cream, sugar, almonds, isinglass, egg yolks, and lemon peel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Almond Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the isinglass in cold water for 2 hours.

  2. Blanch the almonds.

  3. Grind the blanched almonds into a smooth paste.

  4. Add a few drops of milk to the paste to prevent oiling.

Make the cream

  1. Heat the milk over boiling water with the lemon peel for 10 minutes.

  2. Beat the egg yolks.

  3. Pour the hot milk over the beaten egg yolks.

  4. Add the almond paste to the mixture.

  5. Press the mixture through a sieve.

  6. Stir in the sugar and cream.

  7. Melt the soaked isinglass.

  8. Mix the melted isinglass into the mixture.

Set and chill

  1. Rinse the molds with cold water.

  2. Strain the cream into the molds.

  3. Chill the molds on ice.

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 + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  5. Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the cream as they set with gentle heat, giving it a rich body.
Isinglass
Gelatin-like fish protein that sets the cream so it holds its shape when chilled.
Sweet almonds
Ground into a paste, they supply the main almond flavour and body to the cream.
Cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel and a soft texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken and the isinglass sets.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and almonds.

The step that matters

Mix the melted isinglass into the mixture. Isinglass must be fully melted before it is stirred in, or it will set in lumps. The cream should be warm but not hot enough to scramble the egg yolks, so the setting agent blends evenly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cream, sugar, almond, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, sugar, almond, egg. 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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