Name: Old English Jam Balls
Ingredients: 1 pound powdered sugar; 1 pound fine flour, dried in the oven; 3 egg whites, well beaten; ⅓ cup cream; ½ pound butter, melted; 1 pound blanched sweet almonds, pounded to a paste; 2 tablespoons rose water; a good pinch of salt

Why it works: Flour and almond 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 ↓

Old English Jam Balls

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine powdered sugar and dried flour.
Make a paste with the egg whites, cream, and melted butter.
Add the almond paste and knead everything together with your hands.
Work in the rose water and a pinch of salt.

Shape and bake

Cut the mixture into fancy figures.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

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.

Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,245 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,465 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites: Bind the dough and add structure so the shaped pieces hold together.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, giving the dough a tender texture.
Blanched sweet almonds: Provide the main body and nutty flavor of the dough.
Powdered sugar: Adds sweetness and fine texture to the dough.
Fine flour: Gives the dough its body and structure as it bakes.

“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.