Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
English Macaroons
Ingredients
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 the mixture
Blanch the almonds and place them in a mortar.
Pound the almonds with the egg whites gradually, adding an extra egg white if needed.
Once smooth, mix in the powdered sugar and lemon zest thoroughly.
Shape and bake
Shape the mixture into macaroons on wafer paper.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Let the macaroons cool, then carefully remove the wafer paper.
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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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet almonds
- Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the macaroons.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the macaroons set and brown in the oven.
- Egg whites
- Bind the ground almonds and give the macaroons their light structure as they bake.
- Lemon zest
- Adds aroma and a bright citrus note to balance the sweetness.
The step that matters
Pounding the almonds with the egg whites. Adding the egg whites gradually lets the almond paste take up moisture evenly and become smooth. Adding too much liquid at once can make the mixture slack, so it will spread instead of holding its shape on the paper.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, lemon):
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Milletfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Chickpeafits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, lemon. 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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