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Almond Meringue Mixture

A light almond-flavored meringue mixture used as a filling or topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Almond Meringue Mixture

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the meringue

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine 2 egg whites and a pinch of salt. Whip until stiff peaks form.

  2. Gradually add ¼ cup caster sugar while continuing to whip until well combined.

  3. Fold in 1 ounce of blanched and finely shredded almonds.

Shape and bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large plain tip.

  2. Pipe the mixture onto cold waxed baking sheets in desired shapes.

  3. Dust lightly with Marshall's Icing Sugar.

  4. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

Finish

  1. Allow to cool before serving or using as a filling for cakes.

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. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + almondtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks, they trap air and form the light, airy structure of the meringue.
Caster sugar
Stabilises the whipped foam and adds sweetness, helping the meringue hold its shape and brown in the oven.
Almonds
Add nutty flavour and texture, and are folded in gently to keep the foam from collapsing.

The step that matters

Folding in the almonds. Overmixing or heavy folding deflates the whipped egg white foam, causing the meringue to spread and bake flat and dense instead of holding its piped shape.

Swap the almond

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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