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Dessert

Almond Cream

A chilled dessert made from milk, cream, almonds, egg yolks, caramelized sugar, and clarified isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine milk, cream, and lemon peel in a saucepan and heat gently for 20 minutes.

  2. Blanch and finely pound sweet and bitter almonds in a mortar.

Make the cream

  1. Remove the saucepan from heat and stir in the pounded almonds, egg yolks, and enough caramelized sugar to sweeten.

  2. Strain the mixture through a tammy using a wooden spoon, then strain again.

  3. Add the clarified isinglass to the mixture and strain it through to combine.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold set in ice; once set, turn it out like a jelly.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

  4. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

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

  5. Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 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 yolks
Thicken the cream and add richness as they set gently with heat.
Isinglass
Gelatinous setting agent that firms the cream so it holds its shape when turned out.
Sweet almonds
Provide the main almond flavour and body once finely pounded into the cream.
Cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and mouthfeel.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and adds caramel flavour.

The step that matters

Add the isinglass to the mixture. Isinglass must be clarified first and added to the warm mixture so it dissolves evenly; if it is lumpy or the mixture is too hot or too cold, the set will be uneven or fail to hold when turned out.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, almond, 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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