Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Flummery
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the almonds
Soak the almonds in boiling water to remove the skins, then peel them.
Place the peeled almonds in cold water, then beat them in a mortar with a little rose water to prevent oiling.
Make the mixture
Combine the beaten almonds with the calves' feet stock in a pot and sweeten with loaf sugar.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then strain it through muslin or gauze.
Once slightly cooled, stir in the thick cream until it thickens and cools.
Mould and set
Wet your molds with cold water and pour in the flummery mixture.
Let the molds stand for about six hours before turning them out.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,465 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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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 + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bitter almonds
- Provide the characteristic almond aroma and flavour of the dish.
- Sweet almonds
- Add bulk and a mild, creamy almond base to the mixture.
- Calves' feet stock
- Its natural gelatin lets the mixture set into a firm, sliceable jelly.
- Thick cream
- Adds richness and fat, giving a softer, creamier texture to the set dish.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and balances the bitterness of the almonds.
The step that matters
Stirring in the cream after straining. If the mixture is still too hot, the cream may separate or fail to thicken evenly. Letting it cool slightly first keeps the cream smooth and lets the gelatin set the mixture uniformly.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, rose):
- Almondthe original
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Chestnutfits less well
- Walnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, rose. 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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