Why it works: Almond and peach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 466 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Tartlets Op Almond Paste
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very cool oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Butter the smallest-sized patty pans and line them with rolled almond paste, as thin as possible.
Cut the almond paste close to the edges of the pans with a sharp knife.
Bake the tartlets slowly in the cool oven until they are crisp but remain white.
Remove the tartlets from the pans when two-thirds done and place them upside down on a sheet of paper.
Return them to the oven until fully crisp.
At serving time, fill the tartlets with whipped cream or peach/apricot jam.
If using jam, decorate with a small star or ornament cut from the almond paste.
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 + peachtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + peachtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together860 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, butter, cream, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, butter, cream, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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