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Dessert

Almond Pudding

A baked pudding made from sweet and bitter almonds, butter, sugar, egg whites, and a mixture of brandy, wine, and rose water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Almond Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Shell half a pound of sweet almonds and pour scalding water over them to remove skins. While cooling, pour more boiling water until the almonds are fully blanched.

  2. Blanch the bitter almonds in the same manner.

  3. After blanching, place the almonds in cold water, then remove, dry, and lay them on a plate.

  4. Pound the almonds in a marble mortar to a fine paste, adding a few drops of rose-water to prevent oiling. Alternate pounding sweet and bitter almonds to mix them well. Ensure the paste is fine and smooth; it is best prepared the day before use.

Make the batter

  1. Stir butter and sugar into a cream, then gradually add the liquor.

  2. Beat the whites of six eggs until they stand alone.

  3. Stir the almond paste and egg whites alternately into the butter-sugar mixture. Stir the whole mixture well together.

Bake and serve

  1. Prepare a puff-paste sufficient for a soup plate. Butter the plate, lay the puff-paste on it, trim and notch it.

  2. Pour the mixture into the prepared plate.

  3. Bake for about half an hour in a moderate oven.

  4. Grate loaf-sugar over the pudding.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

236Calories
7 gProtein
17 gFat
14 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Almond1 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.

By Eliza Leslie. 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. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the main body and flavour of the pudding's paste.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a tender, creamy texture.
Powdered white sugar
Creams with the butter and adds sweetness while helping the mixture stay tender.
Eggs
Whipped whites lighten the mixture and help it set during baking.

The step that matters

Pounding the almonds to a fine, smooth paste. Any coarse pieces leave a gritty texture in the finished pudding. Adding a little rose-water helps keep the almond oils from separating into a greasy paste.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pecansfits about as well
  3. Filbertfits less well
  4. Walnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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