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Almond Genoese, Bitter

A sweet and bitter almond paste baked into a brittle dessert.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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 ↓

Almond Genoese, Bitter

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batter

  1. Blanch and pound the sweet and bitter almonds to a paste.

  2. In an earthen pan, mix the blanched sweet almonds with flour, powdered sugar, egg yolks, whole eggs, brandy, and salt for 6 minutes.

  3. Add the slightly warmed butter and work it into the paste for 4-5 minutes.

Bake and finish

  1. Butter two 9-10 inch square molds or paper cases and pour in the mixture.

  2. Smooth the top with a knife and sprinkle with minced sweet almonds mixed with powdered sugar and egg white.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until done.

  4. Cut into desired shapes and return to the oven to dry until brittle.

  5. Let cool and decorate as desired.

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 + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Brandy + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the main nutty bulk and body of the paste.
Bitter almonds
Add a characteristic bitter almond aroma and flavor.
Flour
Gives the batter structure so it holds its shape when baked.
Egg yolks
Add richness and emulsify with the butter for a tender crumb.
Whole eggs
Add structure and lift through their proteins as they set in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender, crisp texture.

The step that matters

Working the warm butter into the paste. Butter that is too hot or too cold will not blend evenly into the egg and almond mixture, which can cause a greasy or uneven batter. Warming it only slightly keeps it soft enough to incorporate smoothly.

“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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