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Almond Paste for Second Course Dishes

Almond paste made from sweet and bitter almonds, egg whites, and sugar, then shaped after cooling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Almond Paste for Second Course Dishes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch the almonds and dry them thoroughly.

  2. Pound the almonds in a mortar, adding the egg whites gradually.

  3. Rub the mixture through a tammy-sieve.

Make the paste

  1. In a small pan over low heat, combine the almond paste with sugar until it reaches a paste consistency.

  2. Remove from heat and let it cool between two plates.

  3. Shape the cooled paste as desired.

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 + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the main body and flavor of the paste.
Bitter almonds
Add a stronger, aromatic almond flavor to the paste.
Egg whites
Bind the pounded almonds into a cohesive, pliable mass.
Sugar
Sweetens the paste and helps it firm up as it cools.

The step that matters

Combining the paste over low heat. Low heat keeps the sugar and egg whites from overcooking or scorching, which would make the paste grainy, dry, or discolored. Stop once it reaches a paste consistency.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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