Why it works: Almond and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 993 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Nut Tart
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Take four ounces almonds and four ounces walnuts.
Pound with a little water and stir to foam with one-half pound sugar, two whole eggs and ten yolks of eggs.
Add the beaten whites of five eggs and one and one-half ounces flour, then cook.
Fill and finish
Fill with eight ounces walnut kernels, scraped into milk, sweetened with sugar and stirred with cream.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Walnut | 1 walnut half (4g) | 26 |
| Almond | 1 almond (1.2g) | 7 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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 + walnuttop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together993 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Almonds
- Pounded into the batter to give body and a rich nutty flavor.
- Walnut kernels
- Add nutty flavor and a moist, oily filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps the eggs foam.
- Eggs
- Foam and set during cooking to give the tart its structure.
- Flour
- Adds a little starch that helps the batter hold its shape when cooked.
The step that matters
Add the beaten whites of five eggs. Beaten egg whites hold trapped air that lightens the batter. Folding them in gently, rather than stirring hard, keeps that air in, so the tart rises and stays light instead of turning dense.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, sugar, flour, egg):
- Pistachiofits better
- Cashew nutfits better
- Macadamia nutfits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, flour, 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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