Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Filbert Rolls
Ingredients
Directions
Place the peeled filberts in a preserving pan over medium heat.
Stir constantly with a spatula until they are light yellow and evenly colored.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Pound the cooled filberts with a little egg white to form a paste.
Mix the paste with flour, powdered sugar, and egg yolks.
Shape the mixture as directed for almond rolls.
Use a knife to trace designs on the surface.
Dry well while baking to ensure they are crisp.
Optionally, sprinkle coarse powdered sugar on top before baking.
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 + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Filbert + eggtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together86 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Filbert + sugartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together143 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
Swap the filbert
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Milletfits better
- Filbertthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.