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Almond Soup

A savory soup made with mutton, almonds, vermicelli, and spices, finished with cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Almond Soup

Why it works: Mace and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,400 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Almond Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Boil the mutton in water until tender and the gravy is strong.

  2. Strain the gravy and return it to the heat with vermicelli, mace, and cloves.

  3. Boil until the soup has the flavor of the spices.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch and finely pound the almonds, mixing with a little soup to prevent oiliness.

  2. Continue to pound until a smooth pulp, gradually adding more soup.

Finish and serve

  1. Let the soup cool slightly, then strain it through a sieve.

  2. Heat the strained soup, stirring frequently, and serve hot.

  3. Just before serving, stir in the cream.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Clove + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,605 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

  4. Mace + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,009 recipes
  5. Mutton + creamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together550 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Releases flavor and body into the water as it simmers, forming the base gravy.
Sweet almonds
Pounded into a smooth pulp, they give the soup its body, richness and nutty flavor.
Egg yolks
Enrich the soup and help thicken it gently when heated.
Thick cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel when stirred in at the end.
Vermicelli
Thickens the broth slightly and adds starch for body.

The step that matters

Adding the cream and egg yolks. Eggs and cream can curdle or scramble if the soup is boiling. Heat gently and add the cream just before serving so the soup stays smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, clove, almond, egg, cream):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, clove, almond, egg, cream. 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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