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Orgeat

A sweet almond-based syrup flavored with cinnamon, brandy, and orange flower water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Orgeat

Ingredients

Directions

Make the almond base

  1. Boil the milk with the cinnamon and sweeten to taste, then let it cool.

  2. Gradually pour the cooled milk into a paste made from blanched almonds and bitter almonds mixed with a little water.

  3. Boil the mixture together and stir until cool.

  4. Add the brandy.

  5. Blanch and pound the almonds and bitter almonds with a spoonful of water.

  6. Stir in the water and milk gradually.

  7. Strain through a cloth.

Make the sugar syrup

  1. Dissolve the sugar in a pint of water.

  2. Boil and skim it.

Combine and finish

  1. Mix with the strained almond mixture.

  2. Add orange-flower water.

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. Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Cinnamon + orangetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the syrup, as they are ground and mixed into the liquid.
Bitter almonds
Add a concentrated, strong almond aroma that sweet almonds alone do not give.
Milk
Adds creaminess and moisture, giving the syrup a smooth, rich texture.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and body to the syrup.
Brandy
Adds warmth and alcoholic aroma to the finished syrup.
Orange-flower water
Adds a floral aroma to the finished syrup.

The step that matters

Boil the almond and milk mixture while stirring. Milk proteins can scorch on the bottom of the pan or curdle if heated unevenly. Constant stirring spreads the heat and keeps the mixture smooth.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cinnamon, sugar, almond, brandy. 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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