Why it works: Almond and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 352 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓
Green Flummery
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dissolve isinglass in boiling water.
Add sweet and bitter almonds and enough spinach juice to make it green.
Set the flummery
Heat over low fire until near boiling, then strain through a gauze sieve.
When it thickens, pour into a mold and let it set overnight.
Turn out the next day.
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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Almond + spinachtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together352 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Isinglass
- Provides the gelling structure that lets the liquid set firm.
- Sweet almonds
- Contributes a mild, creamy almond flavor and body to the mixture.
- Bitter almonds
- Adds a stronger almond aroma that gives the flavor depth.
- Spinach juice
- Supplies the green color; it does not help the mixture set.
The step that matters
Heat over low fire until near boiling. Keeping the heat low and stopping at near-boiling protects the gel. Isinglass is a collagen-based gelatin, and prolonged boiling can weaken its ability to set firmly.
“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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