Why it works: Orange and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Almond Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the almond milk
Pound the sweet and bitter almonds in a marble mortar, adding a few drops of water as needed.
Once thoroughly pounded, mix in the orange-flower water and half of the milk.
Strain the mixture through a cloth, squeezing tightly to extract the almond milk.
Make the custard and freeze
In a saucepan, boil the remaining milk with the cream, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.
When the mixture thickens, pour in the almond milk and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and let it cool in a bowl or pitcher before pouring into a mold for freezing.
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.
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Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that thickens into a creamy custard.
- Cream
- Adds fat for a rich, smooth texture in the frozen result.
- Sweet almonds
- Provide the main almond milk and flavor base of the ice.
- Bitter almonds
- Add a deeper, intense almond aroma to the almond milk.
- Orange-flower water
- Contributes a floral aroma to the almond mixture.
The step that matters
Boiling the custard after adding the almond milk. Stirring constantly while the milk and cream thicken prevents scorching and curdling on the base of the pan. Once the almond milk is added, the mixture must be brought to a boil; heating unevenly can cause the dairy proteins to separate, leaving a grainy texture in the finished ice.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cream, almond):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, almond. 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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