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Soup

Almond Soup

A soup made from sweet and bitter almonds, milk, white stock, celery, onion and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Almond Soup

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 Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch and finely chop the sweet and bitter almonds, adding a pinch of salt.

Make the soup

  1. In a saucepan, combine the almonds, milk, celery, and onion; boil gently for 1 hour.

  2. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve, pressing the almonds to extract flavor.

  3. In the same saucepan, mix the flour and butter over low heat, then add the white stock and stir until smooth; boil for 5 minutes.

  4. Add the strained milk, season with salt and white pepper, and bring to a boil again.

Finish and serve

  1. Just before serving, stir in the cream and serve with fried bread sippets.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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, almond flavor and body of the soup.
Butter
Enriches the flavor and, with flour, forms a roux that thickens the soup.
Flour
Thickens the soup together with the butter as a roux.
White stock
Forms the savory liquid base that the soup is built on.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softness, and carries the almond flavor when infused.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel at the end.

The step that matters

Adding the flour and butter roux to the stock. Cooking the flour and butter over low heat, then stirring it smooth into the stock, prevents lumps and gives an even thickening. Boiling afterward fully cooks out the raw flour taste.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, butter, celery, cream, onion, milk, flour):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, butter, celery, cream, onion, milk, flour. 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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