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Orgeat

A sweet almond-based syrup made with milk, cinnamon, almonds, bitter almonds, sugar, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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.

  2. Sweeten the milk to your taste and let it cool.

Combine and finish

  1. Gradually pour the cooled milk into the ground almonds and bitter almonds paste.

  2. Boil the mixture together, stirring until cool.

  3. Add the brandy and mix well.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Cinnamon + brandytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, 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
Their fat and ground solids give the syrup its nutty flavour and body.
Bitter almonds
Add a concentrated almond aroma that stands out against the milk and sugar.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that carries the almond flavour and gives a creamy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the milk and balances the bitterness of the almonds.
Brandy
Adds alcohol and aroma to the finished syrup.
Cinnamon
Adds warm spice aroma to the milk as it boils.

The step that matters

Gradually pour the cooled milk into the almond paste. Adding the milk slowly lets the ground almonds disperse evenly instead of clumping. Pouring it in all at once can leave the paste lumpy and the syrup grainy.

“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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