Why it works: Almond and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,010 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Almond Ball
Ingredients
Directions
In an earthen saucepan, combine white wax, spermaceti, and oil of almonds.
Set the saucepan in a pan of boiling water and stir until well mixed.
When the mixture begins to cool, add essential oil of almonds, expressed oil of mace, and balsam of Peru.
Stir until smooth and perfectly combined.
Pour the mixture into egg cups and let it harden before removing.
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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Almond + macetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,010 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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