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Almond Custards

A custard made from almonds, peach kernels, rose water, powdered sugar, milk or cream, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Almond Custards

Why it works: Almond and peach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 466 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Custards

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almond base

  1. Blanch and pound the almonds and peach kernels in a mortar, adding enough rose water to moisten.

Make the custard

  1. Mix in the powdered sugar and boil the mixture in milk or cream.

  2. Once cooled, stir in the beaten eggs.

  3. Pour the mixture into cups.

Bake

  1. Place the cups in a baking dish filled halfway with water and bake.

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 + peachtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together466 recipes

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

  2. Peach + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together781 recipes

    Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).

  3. Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

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

  5. Peach + rosetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together82 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Shelled sweet almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the custard.
Eggs
Set the custard into a soft, sliceable texture as they cook.
Milk or cream
Supplies the liquid base and richness that carries the custard.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and dissolves smoothly into the hot milk.

The step that matters

Place the cups in a water bath before baking. The water surrounding the cups moderates the oven heat, so the eggs set gently without curdling or cracking. Too little water, or direct heat, can make the custard grainy or rubbery.

Swap the peach

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, rose, sugar, milk, egg. 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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