Why it works: Almond and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,800 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Almond Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Simmer the milk with the pounded bitter and sweet almonds.
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 + milktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bitter almonds
- Give the custard its characteristic almond aroma and flavour.
- Sweet almonds
- Add body and a mild, nutty flavour to the milk.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the almonds are steeped and simmered in.
The step that matters
Simmer the milk with the almonds. Simmering extracts flavour from the pounded almonds into the milk, but overheating can scorch the milk or toughen the result. Keep the heat gentle and watch the pan closely.
“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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