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Dessert

Bitter Macaroons

A sweet biscuit made from bitter almonds, sugar, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 ↓

Bitter Macaroons

Oven, in the book's wordsA slack oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slack oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the paste

  1. Blanch and dry the almonds, then pound them in a mortar with the egg whites gradually to prevent oil separation.

  2. Mix the finely pounded almonds with sifted sugar and 6 or 7 egg whites, adjusting based on the paste's consistency.

Shape and bake

  1. Wet your fingers with water to prevent sticking, then drop the mixture in small lumps onto a baking sheet.

  2. Dip your hand in cold water and lightly touch the tops of the macaroons to make them shine.

  3. Test the heat by placing one or two macaroons in the oven first.

  4. Bake in a slack oven (300°F/150°C).

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.

  1. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the bulk and nutty flavour of the paste, forming the body of the macaroon.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps set the structure and crisp outer surface as it bakes.
Egg whites
Bind the paste together and give the macaroons structure and lift as they bake.

The step that matters

Adding the egg whites gradually while pounding the almonds. Adding liquid slowly lets the almond fats stay emulsified in the paste. Adding it too fast can cause the oil to separate, leaving a greasy, uneven texture.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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