Why it works: Almond and flour 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 ↓
Walnut Cream
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a cool oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
In a bowl, combine ground sweet almonds, ground bitter almonds, rice flour, castor sugar, and egg whites.
Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon for about 45 minutes until it becomes a light and smooth paste.
Transfer some of the mixture into a piping bag and drop small buttons onto smooth paper.
Sift fine sugar over the buttons, place the paper on a baking tray, and bake in a cool oven (300°F / 150°C).
Once cooled, gently remove the buttons from the paper.
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.
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Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + ricetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,456 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, flour, sugar, egg):
- Almondthe original
- Milletfits about as well
- Chestnutfits less well
- Cashew nutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, flour, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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