Why it works: Almond and sugar 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 Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Make the paste
Blanch the almonds and pound them into a paste, adding a few drops of water as needed to prevent oiliness.
Mix the almond paste thoroughly with the sugar.
Cook and cool
Transfer the mixture to a preserving pan and simmer gently, stirring constantly, until it is dry enough not to stick to a clean spoon.
Remove from heat and let cool.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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 rich flavour of the paste.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the paste and helps it dry out and firm up during simmering.
The step that matters
Simmering until dry enough not to stick to a clean spoon. Stirring constantly over gentle heat stops the sugar and almond mixture from scorching on the pan base, and cooking until it no longer clings to a spoon drives off enough moisture so the paste holds its shape once cooled.
“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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