Why it works: Wine and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,427 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
Almond Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the almonds
Scald and peel the sweet and bitter almonds.
Pound the peeled almonds in a mortar to a fine paste.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.
Gradually add the mixed wine and brandy to the butter and sugar mixture.
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Fold the beaten egg whites into the mixture along with the pounded almonds.
Bake and serve
Transfer the mixture to a buttered dish.
Lay puff pastry around the edge of the dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.
Once done, grate sugar over the top before serving.
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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Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Almond + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,969 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet almonds
- Pounded into a paste, they give the pudding its body and nutty almond flavour.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a smooth, tender texture.
- Powdered white sugar
- Creams with the butter and sweetens the pudding while helping it hold its structure.
- Egg whites
- Beaten to a stiff froth, they lighten the mixture and help it rise and set in the oven.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stirring too hard deflates the stiff foam that gives the pudding its lift. Fold gently so the air stays trapped and the pudding bakes light rather than dense.
“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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