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Dessert

Spanish Flummery

A sweet almond custard thickened with milk, folded with whipped cream, and set with isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Spanish Flummery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the almond custard

  1. Finely pound the sweet and bitter almonds in a mortar.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the ground almonds with the egg yolks.

  3. Pour in the boiling milk and stir quickly over low heat until thickened.

  4. Remove from heat and stir until slightly cooled to prevent lumps.

Finish and set

  1. In a separate bowl, whisk the heavy cream to a light froth.

  2. Once the custard is cold, gently fold in the whipped cream.

  3. Add powdered sugar to taste and the dissolved isinglass.

  4. Mix everything lightly and pour into a mold when it begins to set.

  5. Refrigerate for about an hour until ready to serve.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

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

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, giving it body and richness.
Heavy cream
Whipped to a froth and folded in, adding lightness and a soft, creamy texture.
Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the flummery so it holds its shape in the mold.
Sweet almonds
Ground to form the flavour base and body of the custard.

The step that matters

Stirring the boiling milk into the almond and yolk mixture. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently but can curdle or scramble over direct high heat. Stirring quickly over low heat keeps the custard smooth, and removing it from the heat while cooling prevents lumps.

Swap the almond

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, cream, 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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