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 for Ornamenting
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the paste
Scald and finely pound the almonds with a little water to prevent oiling.
Add the sugar and heat on low, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture is white and dry.
Pound again with a little gum tragacanth strained through linen.
Finish and store
Add your preferred perfume and store in a pot covered with a damp cloth.
If using a mold, roll the paste very thin for shapes and oil the mold.
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
- Jordan almonds
- Form the bulk of the paste, providing its nutty flavor and body.
- Sifted sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, once heated, helps it dry and firm into a workable mass.
- Gum tragacanth
- Acts as a binder that gives the paste smoothness and holds its shape.
The step that matters
Heating the almond and sugar mixture. Heating on low while stirring drives off moisture until the mixture turns white and dry. Too little drying leaves a sticky paste that won't hold shape, while overheating can scorch the sugar and darken the color.
“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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