Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
Almond Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Blanch and beat the bitter almonds until smooth.
Mix in the lemon juice and almond oil.
Add a little weak spirits of wine and stir until combined.
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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Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together701 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Almond + spirittop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together143 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Almond + winetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,260 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bitter almonds
- Form the main body of the paste, giving its flavour and bulk.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps thin the paste.
- Almond oil
- Adds fat that makes the paste smooth and moist.
The step that matters
Beating the bitter almonds until smooth. Almonds must be broken down finely so the fats release and the paste blends evenly. Coarse pieces leave a gritty texture that the later liquids cannot fix.
“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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