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 ↓
‘Diablotins’ with Almonds
Ingredients
Directions
Make the almond dough
Pound the almonds.
Dilute the almonds with cold water.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.
Mix the almond liquid with rice flour in a stewpan.
Pass the mixture through a sieve again.
Add salt, orange zest, butter, and sugar.
Stir the mixture over heat until it boils.
Reduce the heat.
Stir until the mixture is firm and has a nice consistency.
Remove the mixture from heat.
Stir in kirschwasser or cognac.
Shape and fry
While the mixture is warm, take pieces the size of a nut.
Roll the pieces into balls.
Heat frying fat.
Fry half of the balls until dark brown.
Drain the fried balls.
Moisten the balls with orange flower water.
Roll the balls in powdered sugar.
Serve the balls on a napkin.
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 pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Almond + ricetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,456 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the dough.
- Rice flour
- Thickens the almond liquid so the mixture sets firm enough to shape.
- Butter
- Adds richness and softness to the dough.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the outside brown when fried.
- Kirschwasser or cognac
- Adds a strong aroma once the mixture is off the heat.
The step that matters
Stir until the mixture is firm and has a nice consistency. Stirring over heat thickens the starch in the rice flour as it cooks. If it is stopped too early the balls will be soft and may fall apart in the hot fat; if cooked too long the dough becomes stiff and hard to shape while warm.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, rice, flour, butter, sugar):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, rice, flour, butter, sugar. 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.
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Rice Cake120 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.