Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Almond Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Blanch and finely pound the almonds and egg yolks together.
Add the mixture to the hot stock and bring to a boil while stirring constantly.
Thicken the soup with bits of butter rolled in flour.
Finish and serve
Before serving, add salt to taste and stir in the cream.
Place the chopped egg whites in a tureen and pour the hot soup over them.
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.
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Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + coffeetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together374 recipes
Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Sweet almonds
- Provide the main flavour and body of the soup once pounded and blended into the stock.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help give the soup a smooth, creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour when worked with flour into the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup when rolled with butter and stirred into the hot liquid.
- Rich cream
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Bringing the soup to a boil while stirring constantly. Once the almond and yolk mixture meets the hot stock, it can settle, scorch or curdle on the base of the pan. Constant stirring keeps the proteins and starch dispersed evenly, giving a smooth, uniform soup.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, flour, coffee, cream):
- Almondthe original
- Hazelnutfits about as well
- Walnutfits less well
- Cocoafits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, flour, coffee, cream. 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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