Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Fkangipani Cream Patties
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the shells
Prepare the pastry shells by removing the center piece.
Scoop out the soft inside, leaving ½ inch of crust.
Make the filling
In a small saucepan, combine cream, flour, orange flower water, and brandy or sherry.
Boil until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
Add more cream or milk if too thick.
Beat in the egg yolks, crumbled macaroons, sugar, lemon peel, and chopped candied fruit.
Set the saucepan in boiling water.
Stir until very thick.
Let cool before using.
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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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Orange + gingertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,833 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the cream filling as they cook and give it richness.
- Flour
- Stabilizes the cream mixture so it thickens without becoming grainy.
- Macaroons
- Add body and an almond aroma to the filling.
- Cream
- Provides moisture and richness for a smooth, soft filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the brandy or sherry.
The step that matters
Stir until very thick. Egg yolks thicken only as they are gently heated; cooking them too fast can scramble them, while stopping too early leaves the filling loose and unable to hold its shape.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, flour, orange, brandy, egg, sugar, lemon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, flour, orange, brandy, egg, sugar, lemon. 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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