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Almond Paste

A paste made from bitter almonds, barley flour, and honey.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 Paste

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Blanch the almonds and grind them into a fine powder using a mortar and pestle.

  2. Add the barley flour and mix well.

  3. Gradually add honey until a smooth paste forms.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Almond + barleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together78 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

  3. Almond + honeytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,069 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Barley + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together582 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Barley + honeytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together78 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

Bitter almonds
Provide the main flavour and the bulk of the paste.
Barley flour
Adds body and helps thicken the paste.
Honey
Adds sweetness and moisture, binding the powder into a smooth paste.

The step that matters

Gradually add honey until a smooth paste forms. Adding honey too quickly can leave the mixture wet in some spots and dry in others. Adding it slowly lets the honey coat the fine particles evenly, so the paste binds smoothly without becoming runny.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (barley, flour, honey):

  1. Milletfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Flaxseedfits less well
  4. Chestnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against barley, flour, honey. 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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