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Dessert

Frenxh Macaroons

Almond macaroons made from ground almonds, powdered sugar, and egg whites, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Frenxh Macaroons

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch and finely grind the almonds.

Make and bake

  1. In a bowl, beat the ground almonds with the powdered sugar and egg whites until well combined.

  2. Drop the mixture by teaspoonfuls onto buttered parchment paper.

  3. Bake in a cold oven until set.

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

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

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

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

  3. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the bulk and nutty flavour of the batter, forming the bulk of the shell.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps give the shells a smooth, dry-textured crust.
Egg whites
Provide structure and moisture, binding the almond and sugar mixture into a batter.

The step that matters

Bake in a cold oven until set. Starting the batter in a cold oven lets it dry and set gradually, so the shells develop feet and a smooth top rather than cracking or spreading. Stop when the surface is firm to the touch.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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