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Almond Shamrocks

Almond Shamrocks are sugar-coated almonds arranged into shamrock shapes and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Almond Shamrocks

Oven, in the book's wordsA very slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the icing

  1. Whisk the egg white until it forms stiff peaks.

  2. Gradually mix in the sugar until the mixture is thick enough to be shaped by hand.

Shape the shamrocks

  1. Roll each almond in a small amount of icing until fully coated.

  2. Arrange three almonds together in the shape of a shamrock, using a small piece of sugar for the stalk.

  3. Place the assembled shamrocks on sheets of thick writing paper.

Bake

  1. Bake in a very slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 20 minutes or longer.

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. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + almondtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg white
Whipped to stiff peaks, it gives the icing structure and lets it hold its shape.
Sugar
Sweetens the icing and, mixed with the egg white, thickens it enough to shape by hand.
Jordan almonds
Form the body of each shamrock; they are the main element of the sweet.

The step that matters

Drying the almonds. Almonds must be thoroughly dry before icing, because any moisture stops the icing from adhering and can make it weep or soften during baking.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, 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.

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