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Dessert

Orgeat

A sweet almond-based syrup flavored with cinnamon, brandy, and orange flower water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Orgeat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the milk

  1. Boil the milk with the cinnamon, sweeten to taste, and let it cool.

Make the almond mixture

  1. Gradually pour the cooled milk into a mixture of blanched and beaten almonds and bitter almonds, adding a little water to prevent oiling.

  2. Boil the mixture together.

  3. Stir until cold.

  4. Add the brandy.

  5. Blanch and pound the almonds and bitter almonds with water.

  6. Stir in the water and milk.

  7. Strain through a cloth.

Make the sugar syrup

  1. Dissolve the sugar in water and boil, skimming well.

Combine

  1. Mix the sugar syrup with the almond mixture, orange flower water, and brandy.

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. Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Cinnamon + orangetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

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

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 body and nutty flavour of the syrup, forming its emulsified base.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a smooth, rich texture to the syrup.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and gives the syrup its body once dissolved.
Brandy
Adds aroma and warmth to the finished syrup.
Orange flower water
Adds a delicate floral aroma that complements the almond flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the cooled milk to the almonds. Pour the cooled milk in gradually and add a little water, because adding it too fast or without water can cause the almond fat to separate and oil out, leaving the syrup greasy and grainy.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cinnamon, almond, brandy, 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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