Name: Orange Posset
Ingredients: 1 penny loaf, grated; ½ cup water; grated peel of 1 Seville orange; 3 ounces sweet almonds, beaten; 1 ounce bitter almonds, beaten; ¼ cup brandy; ½ cup orange juice; 4 ounces sugar; 1 pint mountain wine

Why it works: Orange and almond 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 ↓

Orange Posset

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the grated crumb of the penny loaf in water with the grated peel of the Seville orange until the mixture is clear and thick.
Add the beaten sweet and bitter almonds, brandy, orange juice, sugar, and mountain wine, then mix well and serve in a china bowl.

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.

Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Brandy + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,427 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Orange + winetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,046 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,706 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Almond + brandytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Penny loaf: Its crumb thickens the boiled liquid, giving the posset body and a soft texture.
Sweet almonds: Beaten almonds add richness, body and a nutty flavour to the drink.
Bitter almonds: Adds a strong, intense almond aroma that deepens the flavour.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the orange juice and brandy.
Orange juice: Provides acidity and bright citrus flavour to the posset.

“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.