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Almonds Blown Royal

A candied almond coated in a sugar and egg glaze, colored with carmine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 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 ↓

Almonds Blown Royal

Oven, in the book's wordsA cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the almonds

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Place the almonds in the oven until slightly colored.

Make the coating

  1. While cooling, mix sugar and egg; beat for 10 minutes.

  2. Add carmine to achieve a fine rose color.

  3. Dip the almonds into the mixture, ensuring they are just covered.

Bake and set

  1. Lay the almonds in pairs on strong paper, leaving ¾ inch between each pair.

  2. Bake in a cool 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 crunchy, nutty base that the coating clings to and holds its shape around.
Sugar
Sweetens the coating and, when beaten with egg, forms the body of the meringue-like layer.
Egg
Whipped with sugar to create a foam that sets into a light, crisp coating when baked.
Carmine
Adds the rose color to the coating; it is a colorant and does not change flavor.

The step that matters

Dip the almonds just to coat. Too thick a layer of egg and sugar stays soft and sticky rather than setting crisp in the cool oven, while too little leaves bare patches. A light, even coat dries into a firm, crisp shell.

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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