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Dessert

Almond Faggots

A baked sweet made from egg whites, yolks, powdered sugar, sliced almonds, and wafer paper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Almond Faggots

Oven, in the book's wordsA slack oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slack oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the mixture

  1. Whisk the egg whites until frothy.

  2. Add the egg yolks and powdered sugar, whisking until well combined.

  3. Incorporate the finely sliced almonds until the mixture is stiff.

Shape and bake

  1. Cover a plate or wire with wafer paper.

  2. Form small heaps of the mixture on the paper, shaping them pointed.

  3. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until they are colored.

  4. Remove from the oven and let cool.

  5. Trim the wafer paper around the faggots, leaving it at the bottom.

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. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Egg + almondtop 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

Egg whites
Whisked to a froth, they trap air and give the faggots a light, airy structure.
Egg yolks
Add richness and fat, softening the texture and adding flavor to the mixture.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the mixture and dissolves easily into the eggs for a smooth base.
Almonds
Provide the bulk and body that stiffen the mixture and give a nutty flavor.

The step that matters

Baking until colored in a slow oven. Baking low and slow dries the meringue-like mixture so it sets firm, while browning develops flavor. Too hot an oven can scorch the outside before the centre sets.

Swap the almond

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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