Name: Almond Soup
Ingredients: 7 almonds; 4 cups water; 1 cup cream; salt to taste

Why it works: Almond and cream 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 Soup

Ingredients

7 almonds
4 cups water
1 cup cream
salt to taste

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the almonds

Soak the almonds in water overnight.
Blanch and grind the almonds into a paste.

Make the soup

In a pot, combine the almond paste with 4 cups of water.
Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Strain the mixture to remove solids.
Return the liquid to the pot, add cream, and heat gently.
Season with salt to taste before serving.

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.

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.

Almond + creamtop 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

Almonds: Provide the main flavour and body of the soup once ground into a paste.
Cream: Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the finished soup.

“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.