Why it works: Almond and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 485 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Almond Soup No. J
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the almonds
Blanch, dry, and grind the almonds using a nut mill or mortar.
Make the soup
In a pot, combine the ground almonds, salt, sugar, and hot water or almond milk.
Bring the mixture to a slow boil for 10 to 15 minutes.
Mix the corn-starch with a little cold water until smooth and add it to the pot.
Allow to boil slowly for 1 to 2 minutes to cook the starch.
Serve
Serve the soup over blanched almonds in a tureen or individual soup plates.
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.
-
Almond + corntop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together485 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
-
Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Almond meal or butter
- Provides the main body and nutty flavour of the soup.
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the soup as it is heated and boiled, giving it body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the savoury, nutty flavour.
The step that matters
Cooking the corn-starch. Starch must be boiled for a full minute or two to swell and fully thicken; undercooked starch leaves a raw, pasty taste and weak body. Stir the slurry in smoothly first so no lumps form.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, corn):
- Beansfits better
- Almondthe original
- Lima beansfits about as well
- Chestnutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, corn. 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.
More almond soup recipes
You might also like
Corn Fritters203 recipes
Cream of Corn Soup50 recipes
Green Corn Soup46 recipes
Cornmeal Gruel41 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.