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Dessert

Delmonico Ambrosia

A chilled fruit salad of pineapple, orange, citron, almonds, sugar, and whipped egg whites, topped with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pineapple and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,664 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Delmonico Ambrosia

Ingredients

Directions

Make the ambrosia

  1. Combine grated pineapple, shredded orange pulp, chopped citron, chopped almonds, sugar, and beaten egg whites in a bowl.

  2. Mix well and freeze the mixture until firm.

Serve and garnish

  1. Serve in sherbet cups topped with a large mound of whipped cream.

  2. Garnish with three candied violets or cherries.

  3. If using violets, scatter fresh violets around the plate.

  4. If using cherries, add cherry or apple blossoms.

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. Pineapple + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,664 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Pineapple + almondtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together428 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped proteins give the frozen mixture a light, airy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and keeps it softer by lowering its freezing point.
Grated pineapple
Adds juicy moisture and bright, tangy fruit flavour.
Orange pulp
Adds citrus acidity and fresh aroma to the fruit base.
Almonds
Add crunch and nutty richness to the frozen mixture.

The step that matters

Freeze the mixture until firm. Freezing must be done slowly and fully so the mixture sets evenly into a scoopable texture. Stopping early leaves it runny, while over-freezing makes it hard and icy.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, almond, sugar, egg, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, almond, sugar, egg, cream. 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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