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Sicilian Biscuits

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Sicilian Biscuits

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Melt the honey in a copper bowl over low heat and skim off the froth.

  2. Add the shredded almonds, ground spices, and grated lemon peel; mix well with a wooden spoon.

  3. Stir in the powdered sugar, Kirschenwasser, orange flower water, and candied peels.

  4. Dissolve the carbonate of potash in 1 tablespoon of water and add it to the mixture along with 14 ounces of flour, reserving some for dusting.

  5. Gently stir the mixture over the heat for 3-4 minutes.

  6. Transfer the paste to a covered container and let it rest in a cool place for 3 days before using.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (honey, almond, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, sugar, orange):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Blueberryfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against honey, almond, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, sugar, orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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