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Almond Custards

A custard made with sweet and bitter almonds, rose water, milk, cream, sugar, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Almond Custards

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Almond Custards

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Blanch and finely grind the sweet and bitter almonds with the rose water.

  2. Boil the milk and sweeten it with sugar.

  3. Rub the ground almonds through a fine sieve into a bowl.

  4. Add the cream to the almond mixture.

Make the custard

  1. Whisk the milk into the egg yolks and egg whites.

  2. Cook the mixture over low heat until it thickens, stirring constantly.

  3. Remove from heat and stir until nearly cool to prevent curdling.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into cups or a dish lined with puff pastry and bake.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Rose + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

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

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the main nutty flavour and a fine, ground body to the custard.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, giving it a rich texture.
Egg whites
Add protein that helps the custard set, giving it a firmer structure.
Cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken into a custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard.

The step that matters

Cook slowly and stir, then cool off heat. Egg proteins set when heated, and too much heat or too little stirring makes them tighten and curdle. Cooking over low heat while stirring keeps the custard smooth, and removing it from heat before it fully cools stops the proteins from overcooking.

“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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