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Dessert

Almond Custard

A custard made with cream, almonds, rose water, sugar, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Almond Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch the almonds in boiling water, then remove the skins.

  2. Combine the blanched almonds and rose water in a bowl.

  3. Sweeten the mixture to taste.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks until light.

  2. Combine the cream and almond mixture in a saucepan over low heat.

  3. Stir continuously until the mixture thickens.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set when gently heated, giving it a smooth, rich body.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the custard a smooth, velvety texture.
Almonds
Provide the main nutty flavour and body once blanched and combined with the cream.
Rose water
Adds a floral aroma that flavours the almond mixture.

The step that matters

Stir continuously until the mixture thickens. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated or left unstirred over heat. Constant stirring over low heat distributes heat evenly and lets the custard thicken smoothly.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pistachiofits about as well
  3. Walnutfits less well
  4. Chestnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, rose, 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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