Why it works: Flour and almond 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 ↓
Almond Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, mix the flour with the milk over medium heat.
Stir continuously until the mixture boils.
Add the pounded almonds and sugar, stirring well to combine.
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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Flour
- Thickens the milk as its starch swells and sets when heated.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base and gives the sauce its creamy body.
- Pounded almonds
- Add nutty flavour and body to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the flavour of the almonds.
The step that matters
Stirring while the mixture heats. Flour can clump or scorch on the base of the pan if it sits unstirred over heat. Constant stirring keeps the starch evenly dispersed so it thickens smoothly as the milk comes to the boil.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, sugar):
- Almondthe original
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Milletfits about as well
- Cashew nutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, sugar. 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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