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Almond Soup

A warm soup made from ground almonds, milk, sugar, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Almond Soup

Why it works: Almond and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,800 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the almond milk

  1. Blanch the almonds and pound them in a mortar, gradually adding 2 cups of milk.

  2. Once pounded to a smooth paste, strain it by squeezing through a piece of cheesecloth.

Finish and serve

  1. To the scalded milk, add sugar and salt, then combine with the almond mixture.

  2. Bring to a boil and serve hot.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Almonds
Provide the main body, nutty flavour and creamy texture of the soup.
Milk
Carries the almond paste into a smooth, liquid soup and adds richness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the nutty flavour.

The step that matters

Pounding the almonds to a smooth paste. If the almonds are not pounded fine enough, the soup stays gritty after straining. Adding the milk gradually helps the paste break down and emulsify evenly, giving a smoother result.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Cocoafits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Peanutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, 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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