Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Maids of Honour
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Blanch and dry the almonds.
Pound the almonds in a mortar with the sugar until fine.
Add the egg yolks one at a time.
Mix in the flour, cream, and orange-flower water.
Assemble and bake
Line 8 or 9 small tartlet molds with the puff paste.
Fill the molds with the mixture.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 15 minutes.
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 + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Puff paste
- Forms the crisp, flaky shell that holds the filling in each tartlet.
- Jordan almonds
- Provide the nutty base of the filling once pounded fine.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps grind the almonds into a smooth paste.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the filling and set when baked, giving it a tender custard-like texture.
- Fine flour
- Adds body to the filling so it holds its shape while baking.
- Orange-flower water
- Adds a floral aroma to the filling.
The step that matters
Pound the almonds fine with the sugar. Coarse almond pieces leave a gritty texture in the baked filling. Pounding the almonds with sugar breaks them down and blends their oils into a smooth paste.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, almond, flour, egg, cream):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, almond, flour, egg, cream. 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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