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Olive and Almond Sauce

A sauce of butter, flour, stock, cream, almonds, olives, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne, served with fish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Olive and Almond Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Melt butter.

  2. Add flour.

  3. Pour in White Stock gradually.

Finish and serve

  1. Just before serving add remaining ingredients.

  2. Serve with boiled or steamed fish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

887Calories
40 gProtein
34 gFat
101 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Olive1 large (4g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Fannie Merritt Farmer. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Almond + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Melted with flour to form the roux that thickens the sauce and adds richness.
Flour
Forms a roux with the butter that thickens the sauce as the stock is added.
White stock
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which thickens as it is added to the roux.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the sauce.
Shredded almonds
Contribute nutty flavour and a pleasant texture to the finished sauce.
Olives
Add a briny, savoury flavour and contrast to the creamy base.

The step that matters

Adding the stock gradually. Pouring the stock in slowly while whisking keeps the flour and butter roux smooth. Adding it all at once can leave lumps that are hard to remove.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, cream, almond, beef, olive):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, cream, almond, beef, olive. 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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