Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Almond Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the almonds
Blanch and pick the almonds.
Soak them in spring water for two days, changing the water occasionally.
Drain the almonds.
Dry them with a clean cloth.
Make the paste
Pound them in a mortar for 3-4 hours until they form a paste.
Add a little lemon juice or egg white if the mixture appears oily.
Heat the refined sugar in a sugar pan until it reaches pearl boiling.
Add the almonds and stir until they form a paste.
Pound the mixture again for a few minutes.
Add a little spring water if it appears oily.
Sift powdered sugar onto a sheet of writing paper.
Roll up the paste.
Let it stand for a few days.
Work the paste in the mortar before using.
Shape and bake
Roll it out thinly on a sheet of writing paper.
Cut the paste into desired shapes.
Use fine powdered sugar to prevent sticking.
Use beaten egg white mixed with powdered sugar to stick the pieces together.
Bake in a very slow oven.
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 + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Almonds
- Form the bulk of the paste, providing body, fat and flavour once pounded smooth.
- Refined sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, when heated to pearl boiling, helps bind it into a firmer mass.
- Egg white
- Adds moisture and binding to loosen an oily mixture and help pieces stick together.
The step that matters
Pound the mixture until smooth, adding lemon juice, egg white or spring water if it looks oily. Almonds release oil as they are crushed. If the paste turns oily, it separates and becomes greasy and crumbly. A small amount of liquid re-emulsifies the oil and gives a smooth, workable paste.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, egg. 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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