Name: Meal, Almond
Ingredients: ½ cup oil of bitter almonds; 2 teaspoons borax, in powder; ½ cup Castile soap, in powder; ½ cup orris root; 1 cup wheat flour; 1 cup almond meal; 4 parts glycerine; 4 parts essence of musk; sufficient blanched almonds

Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Meal, Almond

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the oil of bitter almonds, borax, Castile soap, orris root, wheat flour, and almond meal thoroughly.
Blanch the almonds, then rub them to a fine powder.
Combine the almond powder with the other ingredients and pass through a sieve.
Perfume the mixture as desired.
This mixture serves as a very effective skin emollient.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Almond + wheattop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together264 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).