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Almond Soup

A soup made with almonds, milk, cream, flour, butter, onion, celery, cayenne pepper, mace, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Almond Soup

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 ↓

Almond Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch and chop the almonds finely.

Make the soup

  1. Boil the almonds gently in 1½ cups of milk with the onion and celery for 1 hour.

  2. Remove the onion and celery from the pot.

  3. Mix the flour and butter together, then add ½ cup of milk, a pinch of Cayenne pepper, mace, and salt.

  4. Stir the mixture into the soup and cook until it boils for a few minutes.

  5. Add the cream.

  6. Serve immediately when it boils.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the soup as they soften in the milk.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that carries the almond flavour and gives the soup its body.
Flour
Thickens the soup when cooked with butter and stirred in, giving a smoother texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the flour thicken smoothly and carrying flavour.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky, smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour and butter mixture into the soup. Flour thickens only when it is cooked in fat and liquid. If it is added as lumps or not heated long enough, the soup can taste raw and feel grainy. Stir well and let it boil for a few minutes.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, milk, cream, flour, celery, butter, pepper):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Arrowrootfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, milk, cream, flour, celery, butter, pepper. 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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