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 ↓
Strawberry Marchpane
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Beat the almonds into a paste.
Mix the almond paste with the sugar boiled to a soft ball stage.
Crush and strain the juice from the strawberries and add it to the almond paste and syrup.
Cook
Stir the mixture well and set it on hot ashes, stirring continuously until it is done.
To test, place a piece on the back of your hand; if it can be removed without sticking, it is ready.
Set and cut
When cool, spread it over a slab and cut it into any size and shape you prefer.
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.
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet almonds
- Form the paste that gives the marchpane its dense, smooth body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and, boiled to a soft ball, helps it set firm when cooled.
- Strawberries
- Add fruit flavour and moisture to the almond paste and syrup.
The step that matters
Cooking until done. Sugar must be cooked to the right stage so the mixture sets firm rather than sticky or soft. Stirring constantly prevents scorching on the hot ashes and keeps the texture even. The hand test checks whether it has reached the point where it releases cleanly.
“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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