Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Almond Paste
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the almonds
Blanch and pick the almonds.
Soak the almonds in spring water for two days, changing the water occasionally.
Drain the almonds.
Dry the almonds with a clean cloth.
Pound the almonds in a mortar for 3-4 hours until they form a paste.
If the paste becomes oily, add a little lemon juice or egg white.
Make the paste
Heat the refined sugar in a sugar pan until it reaches pearl boiling.
Add the almond paste to the sugar and stir until it adheres together.
Pound the mixture again in the mortar for a few minutes.
Add a little spring water if the mixture appears oily.
Sift powdered sugar onto a sheet of writing paper.
Roll up the paste in the powdered sugar.
Let it stand for a few days.
Work the paste in the mortar before using.
Shape and bake
Roll it out thinly on a slab.
Cut it into desired shapes.
Dust with fine powdered sugar to prevent sticking.
Use beaten egg white mixed with powdered sugar to stick pieces together.
Bake in a very slow oven (300°F or 150°C).
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 + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Almonds
- Form the paste base, providing the bulk of the texture and flavor.
- Refined sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, cooked to pearl boiling, helps bind it together.
- Egg white
- Adds binding to correct an oily paste and helps stick pieces together.
- Lemon juice
- Adds a little acidity to help correct an oily paste.
The step that matters
Pound the almonds until a paste forms. Almonds release oil as they are crushed, so the paste can turn oily. Thorough pounding and the added lemon juice, egg white or water help the mixture bind smoothly instead of separating.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, egg. 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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