Name: Tea Liquor Dragees
Ingredients: 1 lb black tea; 2 quarts water; 1¼ lbs blanched almonds; 15 lbs sugar; 5 tablespoons gum solution; ¼ pint alcohol; starch for sprinkling

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 ↓

Tea Liquor Dragees

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the tea and almond liquid

Make an infusion of black tea in 2 quarts of water.
Strain to draw off at least 1 quart.
Pound the blanched almonds in water to obtain 1 quart of emulsion.

Make and set the dragees

Boil the sugar at 300°F (150°C).
Thin it down to 36°F (175°C) with the almond emulsion and tea infusion mixed together.
Add the gum solution and alcohol to the mixture.
Allow the mixture to stand for 20 minutes before pouring it into molds.
Sprinkle with starch and place in a cool area.

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.

Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Black tea + sugartop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together113 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Black tea + almondtop 34% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5 recipes

Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Black tea: Provides the tea flavor and the color of the finished dragees.
Blanched almonds: Make the almond emulsion, adding richness and a nutty flavor to the mixture.
Sugar: Boiled to a syrup that sets into a firm, sweet candy shell.
Gum solution: Acts as a binder that helps the mixture hold its shape in the molds.
Alcohol: Adds aroma and flavor to the finished dragees.

The step that matters

Boiling the sugar to temperature. The sugar's final temperature determines how firm and crisp the candy becomes once it sets. Too low and the dragees stay soft or sticky; too high and they turn hard or brittle. The record's 36°F figure looks like a typo and should be checked against the source.