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Almond Shamrocks

Almond Shamrocks are small almond confections shaped like shamrocks, coated in a sugar icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and almond 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 Shamrocks

Oven, in the book's wordsA very slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the icing

  1. Whisk the egg white until it forms stiff peaks.

  2. Gradually mix in enough sugar to create a thick, workable icing.

Shape and bake

  1. Coat each almond in the icing until evenly covered.

  2. Arrange three coated almonds together in the shape of a shamrock on thick writing paper, using a small piece of icing for the stalk.

  3. Place the arranged shamrocks in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 20 minutes or until firm but not browned.

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.

  1. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

  2. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Egg + almondtop 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

Egg white
Whisked to stiff peaks, it forms the airy base that binds the sugar into a workable icing.
Sugar
Forms the sweet, set icing that hardens around each almond as it dries in the oven.
Almonds
Provide the crunchy, nutty centre that the icing coats and holds in shape.

The step that matters

Baking until firm but not browned. Sugar icing sets as its moisture evaporates, but overbaking caramelises the sugar and turns it brown and bitter. Low, slow heat dries the icing firm while keeping it pale.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, 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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