Skip to main content
Dessert

Soup Macaroons

Soup macaroons are small fried balls made from soaked crackers, shredded almonds, eggs, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Almond and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Soup Macaroons

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine soaked crackers, shredded almonds, beaten eggs, salt, butter, sugar, and pepper in a bowl.

  2. Add enough cracker crumbs to form a mixture that holds together.

Shape and fry

  1. Make small balls from the mixture and flatten them.

  2. Fry the flattened balls in butter until browned.

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 + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  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

Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help set the cakes when cooked.
Cracker crumbs
Add body so the mixture holds its shape when formed and fried.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the surface brown during frying.
Almonds
Add texture and a nutty flavor to the cakes.

The step that matters

Frying the flattened balls until browned. Moderate heat lets the centre cook through while the outside browns; too hot a pan browns the surface before the interior sets, and too low a heat leaves them pale and greasy.

Swap the almond

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, pepper. 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.

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes