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Almond Paste

Almond paste made from sweet and bitter almonds, sugar, and egg whites, cooked until dry.

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 ↓

Almond Paste

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Blanch the almonds and dry them thoroughly.

  2. Put the almonds into a mortar and pound them well, gradually wetting with the egg whites.

  3. Transfer the pounded mixture to a small preserving pan.

Cook the paste

  1. Add the sugar to the pan.

  2. Place the pan over a small, clear fire (400 °F / 200 °C).

  3. Keep stirring until the paste is dry.

Cool

  1. Remove from heat and place the paste between two dishes until cold.

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. Sugar + eggtop 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
Form the bulk of the paste and supply its main almond flavor and texture.
Bitter almonds
Add a concentrated almond aroma that sweet almonds alone do not provide.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, as it dissolves and dries, helps the paste become firm and sliceable.
Egg whites
Add moisture that binds the pounded almonds into a cohesive paste.

The step that matters

Keep stirring until the paste is dry. Sugar and almond paste scorch easily on the bottom of a pan over direct heat. Constant stirring spreads the heat and lets moisture evaporate evenly, so the paste dries without burning and sets firm once cooled.

Swap the almond

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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