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Orgeat

A syrup made from almonds, orange flower water, and sugar, used in cocktails.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Orgeat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Pound the Jordan and bitter almonds very fine in a marble mortar with the orange flower water.

  2. Mix with 1 pint of rose water and 1 pint of spring water, then strain through a fine sieve until the almonds are dry.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the clarified sugar or water until it cracks when dipped in cold water.

  2. Add the almonds to the boiling sugar and cook for 1 minute.

Bottle and use

  1. Let it cool, then bottle and cork tightly.

  2. Use 1 tablespoon per tumbler of water, shaking before use.

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

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

  2. Orange + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,696 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

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

  4. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Jordan almonds
Provide the main nutty flavor and body of the syrup.
Bitter almonds
Add a stronger, more intense almond aroma.
Orange flower water
Adds a floral aroma that is ground with the almonds.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and thickens the syrup so it keeps well when bottled.

The step that matters

Boiling the sugar until it cracks. The sugar must be boiled long enough to reach the right concentration. Too little boiling leaves a thin syrup that spoils more easily, while overcooking makes it hard, sticky, and too concentrated to use well.

Swap the orange

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, milk. 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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