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 ↓
Almond Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Stir in the flour until smooth.
Add the hot cream and cook for 10 minutes.
Stir in the hot stock and season with salt and pepper.
Finally, add the chopped almonds and serve.
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.
-
Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavor as the base fat of the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and liquids into a smooth, body-rich soup.
- Cream
- Adds fat and silky texture, giving the soup a richer mouthfeel.
- White stock
- Forms the main liquid, providing savory depth and the soup's volume.
- Blanched almonds
- Add nutty flavor and a fine, slightly grainy body to the soup.
The step that matters
Stir in the flour until smooth. Flour must be cooked smoothly into the melted butter before liquid is added; if lumps form or the roux is not stirred evenly, the soup will have a pasty, uneven texture when thickened.
“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.
More almond soup recipes
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Almond Salad6 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes