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Dessert

Macaroons — Continued

A sweet treat made from pistachios, almonds, sugar, and egg whites, baked on wafer paper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pistachio and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 693 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Macaroons — Continued

Oven, in the book's wordsA slack oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slack oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Blanch and finely chop the pistachios.

  2. Combine pistachios, crushed sugar, essence of noyau, and egg whites in a bowl.

Shape and bake

  1. Scoop small amounts onto wafer paper, spacing them 1–2 inches apart, and press the centers slightly with a wet finger.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven (350 °F / 175 °C) until done.

Second version

  1. For the second version, pound blanched almonds with egg whites, then mix in caster sugar, pistachio kernels, and vanilla sugar.

  2. Use a biscuit‑forcer to squeeze onto wafer paper, bake in a moderate oven without browning.

  3. Remove from paper by dampening it with water.

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. Pistachio + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together693 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  2. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Pistachio + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together407 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Pistachios
Provide the main flavour and nutty texture of the macaroons.
Egg whites
Bind the mixture and help the macaroons set structure as they bake.
Crushed loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the macaroons a crisp, dry surface.
Blanched bitter almonds
Add body and almond flavour to the second version's paste.

The step that matters

Baking without browning. Macaroons are baked until set but pale, since over-browning sugar and nut proteins turns them bitter and dry. Watching the colour closely keeps them tender and evenly flavoured.

Swap the pistachio

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

  1. Hazelnutfits about as well
  2. Chestnutfits about as well
  3. Pistachiothe original
  4. Macadamia nutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, almond, vanilla. 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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