Why it works: Lemon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Almond Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Boil 2 cups of milk, then stir in the batter and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring gently.
Pour the mixture out and let it cool completely.
Gradually mix in the juice of 2 lemons and 2 tablespoons of brandy.
In a glass dish, place ¼ pound of macaroons and ratafias soaked in brandy.
Pour the cooled mixture over the macaroons and let it set.
Once set, decorate with almonds, citron, or preserved ginger.
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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Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Almond + gingertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,163 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,738 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, lemon, brandy, ginger):
- Walnutfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Peasfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, lemon, brandy, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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