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Dessert

Almond Icebergs

A meringue dessert with blanched almonds and powdered sugar, baked into iceberg-shaped meringue peaks.

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

Almond Icebergs

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. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Blanch and shred the almonds, then let them cool.

Make the meringue

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Gently fold the cooled almonds and powdered sugar into the meringue.

Shape and bake

  1. Spoon the mixture into large, high drops on a baking sheet.

  2. Dust the tops with sugar to resemble icebergs.

  3. Bake until cool.

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

Blanched almonds
Provide the bulk and nutty flavour that give the cookies their body.
Egg whites
Whipped into foam, they hold air and set into a light, structured meringue when baked.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and dissolves into the meringue, giving a fine, smooth texture.

The step that matters

Gently fold the almonds and sugar into the meringue. Whipped egg white foam holds air that gives lift. Overmixing or heavy stirring deflates the foam, leading to dense, flat results that spread instead of holding high drops.

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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