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Dessert

Irish Rock

Irish Rock is a sweet confection made from butter, sugar, almonds, brandy, and garnished with sweetmeats and myrtle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Irish Rock

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the washed butter and powdered sugar together until smooth.

  2. Pound the blanched sweet almonds and bitter almonds in a mortar, reserving some sweet almonds for decoration.

  3. Add the almond mixture and brandy to the butter and sugar, and pound until smooth and white.

Shape and decorate

  1. Once firm, shape the mixture into egg-like forms using two spoons.

  2. Place the shaped sweets on a glass dish and decorate with green sweetmeats, spiked almonds, and a sprig of myrtle.

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. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

  2. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Almond + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,969 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Butter
Provides fat and richness, giving the mixture a smooth, creamy body.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and dissolves easily into the butter for a smooth texture.
Sweet almonds
Form the main body of the mixture, adding bulk, nutty flavor and a firm, pounded texture.
Bitter almonds
Add a distinct, intense almond aroma that balances the sweetness.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor and helps soften the paste for easier pounding and shaping.

The step that matters

Once firm, shape the mixture into egg-like forms using two spoons.. The paste must be chilled and firm enough to hold its shape; if it is too soft, the forms slump and lose their outline. Working the mixture while it is still cold keeps the shapes neat.

“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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