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Dessert

Almond Tree

A sweet almond mixture cooked over low heat until thickened.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Honey and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,336 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity. The science ↓

Almond Tree

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pound the almonds in a mortar until fine.

Make the pudding

  1. Mix the pounded almonds with honey, black pepper, garum, milk, eggs, and oil.

  2. Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened.

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. Honey + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,336 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  2. Almond + honeytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,069 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

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

  4. Honey + peppertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,990 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Almond + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,566 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, and thicken the pudding as they cook.
Eggs
Set the mixture and add richness and structure as they cook.
Honey
Adds sweetness and helps the pudding stay moist.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness, loosening the almond base before it thickens.
Garum
Adds savoury depth and salty, umami notes that balance the sweetness.

The step that matters

Cook over low heat while stirring constantly. Eggs set when heated, and gentle, constant stirring over low heat keeps the proteins from overcooking and curdling. Too much heat or a pause in stirring can leave lumps or a scorched base.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (honey, pepper, fish sauce, milk, egg):

  1. Peanutfits better
  2. Peasfits better
  3. Sesamefits better
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against honey, pepper, fish sauce, milk, 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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