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Cream of Almond Soup

A creamy soup made with almonds, celery, butter, flour, water, milk, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Cream of Almond Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Soak the almonds in cold water for a few hours, then blanch and remove the skins.

  2. Chop the celery finely.

Make the soup

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and sauté the celery until soft.

  2. Add the flour and cook for a minute, stirring constantly.

  3. Gradually add the cold water and scalded milk, stirring until smooth.

  4. Add the almonds and salt, and simmer for 15 minutes.

  5. Blend the soup until smooth and serve hot.

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

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

  4. Almond + celerytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the soup once blended.
Butter
Adds fat and richness while softening the celery.
Flour
Thickens the liquid into a smooth, creamy texture when cooked with butter.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base that gives the soup its body and richness.
Celery
Adds savoury aromatic flavour and a soft, tender texture to the soup.

The step that matters

Adding the cold water and scalded milk to the flour. Adding the liquid gradually while stirring constantly keeps the flour dispersed, so the soup thickens smoothly without lumps.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Celerythe original

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