Name: Beignets a LA Moderne
Ingredients: 6 ounces sifted flour; ½ pint cream; 3 whole eggs; 3 egg yolks; ½ pound dried and preserved cherries, each cut into 4 pieces; 2 dozen blanched Jordan almonds, chopped; 3 ounces butter; 1 tablespoon sugar

Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Beignets a LA Moderne

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the flour, cream, whole eggs, and egg yolks.
Add the chopped cherries and almonds to the mixture.
Melt the butter and mix it in along with the sugar.
Pour the batter into prepared molds and fill them nearly to the top.
Place the molds in a cool place until set.

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.

Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,245 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Almond Sponge Cake26 recipes

Almond Custard22 recipes

Almond Wafers22 recipes

Coconut Almond Cake17 recipes

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Beignets a LA Moderne