Name: Almond Glass
Ingredients: 1 pound sweet almonds, peeled; 6 eggs; ¾ pound sifted sugar; additional sugar for covering; wafers

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 Glass

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Bruise the peeled almonds very fine.
Mix the bruised almonds with 2 eggs and ¾ pound of sifted sugar.
Add 4 more eggs and mix well.

Bake

Spread the mixture on wafers and cover with additional sugar.
Bake on a flat tin in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).

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.

Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 nutty flavour of the glass.
Eggs: Bind the almonds and sugar into a spreadable mixture that sets as it bakes.
Sifted sugar: Sweetens the mixture and helps it caramelise and crisp on top.