Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Hickory Nut Macaroons
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very cool oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Make cold icing by mixing egg whites and sugar.
Roll the hickory nuts with a rolling pin.
Sift flour over the rolled nuts.
Shape and bake
Form the mixture into balls the size of a hickory nut or drop spoonfuls onto buttered paper.
Place on a narrow pan and bake until set.
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.
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Hickory nut kernels
- Provide the main nutty flavor and bulk of the macaroon.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and helps bind it with the egg whites.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into icing to bind the nuts and set structure as they bake.
- Flour
- Adds a small amount of starch to help the mixture hold its shape.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Egg white and sugar set through heat, so underbaking leaves the macaroons soft and sticky, while overbaking dries them out and darkens them.
“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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