Name: Almond Cream
Ingredients: 1 small portion of almond cream (about the size of a grain of corn); water

Why it works: Almond and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 485 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Cream

Ingredients

1 small portion of almond cream (about the size of a grain of corn)
water

Directions

Dip your hands into a basin of water.
Apply a small amount of almond cream to one palm.
Rub your hands together to create a lather.
Rub the cream well into your hands before washing it off.

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.

Almond + corntop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together485 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,130 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Cream + corntop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,532 recipes

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