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Fine Almond Faggots

Almond faggots are small almond cakes baked on wafer paper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar 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 ↓

Fine Almond Faggots

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

  1. In a bowl, combine the halved almonds and egg whites.

  2. Add powdered sugar to help the almonds stick together and mix well.

  3. Place wafer papers on a wire rack.

  4. Form small heaps of the almond mixture with your fingers and place them on the wafer papers.

  5. Sift a little powdered sugar over the almond heaps.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until lightly browned.

  2. Remove from the oven and cut the wafer paper around the almond faggots, leaving the paper 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. Almond + sugartop 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. 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

Sweet almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the faggots.
Egg whites
Bind the almond pieces together so they hold their heaped shape.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the almonds stick together while browning lightly.

The step that matters

Forming the heaps. The almond mixture must be pressed into firm heaps so it holds its shape in the oven. Loose heaps spread and lose their form, while the egg whites and sugar bind the almonds as they bake.

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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