Why it works: Almond and saffron match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 306 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Almond Candy.- Petit Candi Dd Amandes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the almonds
Skin the almonds.
Cut the almonds into narrow long chips.
In a pan, combine the sugar and almonds.
Cook over medium heat with a wooden spatula until the sugar begins to grain.
Remove from heat.
Continue to work until the sugar grains.
Sift out the excess sugar.
Divide the almonds into four parts for coloring.
Color one part white.
Color one part red with carmine.
Color one part yellow with saffron.
Color one part green with spinach.
Dry the colored almonds in a warm place.
Assemble and bake
Prepare a sugar mixture for the mold.
Fill the mold with the sugar mixture.
Lightly strew the top with the colored almonds.
Press the almonds in slightly with a fork.
Place in a 400°F (200°C) oven for five hours.
Drain well.
Allow to cool for two hours before removing from the mold.
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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Almond + saffrontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together306 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Saffron + spinachtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together149 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Almond + spinachtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together352 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
-
Sugar + saffrontop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together650 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet almonds
- Form the main body of the candy, providing bulk and a crunchy texture.
- Clarified sugar
- Coats the almonds and grains into a crisp, set sugar shell that holds the candy together.
- Carmine
- Supplies the red color for one portion of the almonds.
- Saffron
- Supplies the yellow color for one portion of the almonds.
- Spinach
- Supplies the green color for one portion of the almonds.
The step that matters
Continue to work until the sugar grains. Sugar must crystallize into a grainy coating around the almonds; stirring until it grains gives a dry, separate coating, while stopping too early leaves a sticky, uneven surface.
Swap the spinach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, sugar, saffron):
- Beetrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Arrowrootfits about as well
- Spinachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, saffron. 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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