Why it works: Brandy and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,427 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
Almond Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the almonds
Shell the sweet almonds.
Pour scalding water over them to remove the skins. Repeat with boiling water until all almonds are blanched.
Place the blanched almonds in cold water.
Dry them with a clean towel.
Pound the almonds one at a time in a marble mortar, adding a few drops of rose water to prevent oiling. Mix the sweet and bitter almonds as you pound.
Make the filling
Cream the butter and sugar together. Gradually add the liquor.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Stir the almond mixture and egg whites alternately into the butter and sugar until well combined.
Bake and serve
Prepare a puff pastry for a soup plate. Butter the plate. Lay the pastry in it, trimming and notching the edges.
Pour the almond mixture into the pastry.
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for about 30 minutes.
Grate loaf sugar over the pudding before serving.
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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Brandy + winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,465 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Brandy + rosetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together560 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 body and flavor of the pudding once pounded into a paste.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the mixture and help it set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender texture.
- Powdered white sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps create a smooth, creamed base with the butter.
- Bitter almonds or peach kernels
- Add a characteristic aroma and a subtle bitter note to the almond flavor.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Under-beaten whites stay loose and deflate the batter, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy. Stiff, glossy peaks trap air that lightens the pudding and helps it rise and set in the oven.
“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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