Why it works: Sugar and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Imitation Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Boil sugar until it reaches the crack stage for making baskets or vases.
For spinning, boil sugar longer to maintain shape.
Tie two silver table forks together and dip prongs in sugar.
Quickly shake sugar off onto the back of a large knife.
Cut off knotted ends and use threads to form your design.
To make a plain sultana or basket, spin sugar around a mold rubbed with oil of almonds.
Trace your design on the mold with chalk, then use a pointed stick dipped in sugar to outline it.
Color boiling sugar with wet colors to achieve desired shades.
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.
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Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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