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Dessert

Egg Marmalade

A sweet almond and marmalade mixture thickened with eggs and brandy, set in a mold and garnished with edible flowers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Egg Marmalade

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almond base

  1. Blanch and pound the sweet almonds with a little rose water until smooth.

  2. In a bowl, mix the pounded almonds, orange marmalade, citron, and brandy until well combined.

Make the custard

  1. Add the beaten yolks of six eggs and the whites of two eggs to the mixture, along with the powdered sugar.

  2. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and stir over low heat until it thickens.

Set and serve

  1. Once thickened, pour it into a mold and let it cool completely.

  2. When cold, turn it out onto a serving plate and garnish with edible flowers.

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. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Orange + rosetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together876 recipes

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

  3. Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,706 recipes

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

  5. Brandy + rosetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together560 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture as they set over gentle heat, giving a rich, smooth body.
Egg whites
Add protein that helps the mixture set firm once cooled.
Sweet almonds
Add body and nutty flavour, and a smooth, fine texture when pounded.
Orange marmalade
Adds sweetness and citrus acidity that brightens the rich eggs.
Citron
Contributes candied citrus flavour and chewy texture.
Brandy
Adds aroma and depth of flavour to the mixture.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat until it thickens. Egg proteins begin to set around 160°F, so gentle, constant stirring over low heat thickens the custard smoothly. Higher heat can scramble the eggs, leaving lumps and a grainy texture.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Orangethe original

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