Name: Millefruit Biscuits
Ingredients: ¼ pound preserved orange peel, cut into ½-inch pieces; 6 ounces angelica, cut into ½-inch pieces; ¼ pound preserved lemon peel, cut into ½-inch pieces; 6 ounces sweet almonds, chopped; 1 ounce bitter almonds, chopped; 2 egg whites; ½ cup sugar; 2 tablespoons orange flower water; Cochineal color (for decoration)

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Millefruit Biscuits

Ingredients

¼ pound preserved orange peel, cut into ½-inch pieces
6 ounces angelica, cut into ½-inch pieces
¼ pound preserved lemon peel, cut into ½-inch pieces
6 ounces sweet almonds, chopped
1 ounce bitter almonds, chopped
2 egg whites
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons orange flower water
Cochineal color (for decoration)

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.

Make and shape the mixture

In a bowl, combine egg whites, sugar, and orange flower water to make icing.
Add the orange peel, angelica, lemon peel, sweet almonds, and bitter almonds to the icing and mix well.
Use a brush to apply cochineal color to the mixture for decoration.
Spoon the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet in desired sizes.

Bake and serve

Bake in the preheated oven just to dry the icing, then let cool before removing.

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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Angelica + lemontop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together189 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Angelica + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together135 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Orange + angelicatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together159 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites: Whip-free icing base that binds the fruit and almonds and helps the biscuits hold their shape.
Sugar: Sweetens the icing and helps it dry to a firm, glossy surface when baked.
Sweet almonds: Provide bulk, chewy texture and nutty flavor throughout the biscuit.
Bitter almonds: Add a sharp, aromatic almond flavor that balances the sweetness.
Angelica: Adds chewy texture and a herbal, aromatic note that marks the fruit mixture.
Orange peel: Adds bright citrus aroma and chewy pieces that contrast with the almonds.

The step that matters

Bake just to dry the icing. Egg white and sugar set and brown quickly in the oven. Baking only until the surface dries keeps the biscuits pale and soft inside, while overbaking makes them hard and brittle.

Swap the angelica

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

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Angelicathe original
Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, lemon, almond, egg, sugar. 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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Millefruit Biscuits