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Dessert

Almond Custard

A custard made from almonds, sugar, egg yolks, gelatin, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,800 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch the almonds and pound them with the sugar until fine.

  2. Mix the almond-sugar mixture with the egg yolks.

Make the custard

  1. Dissolve the gelatine in the boiling milk.

  2. Stir the gelatine mixture into the almond mixture over low heat until thickened and smooth.

  3. Strain through a sieve before serving.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into a mold and chill until set.

  2. Dip the mold in warm water, rub with a cloth, and carefully turn out the custard onto a dish.

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

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

  2. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 flavour and body of the custard.
Fine white sugar
Adds sweetness and helps grind the almonds into a fine paste.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set over gentle heat, adding richness.
Patent gelatine
Sets the liquid custard so it holds its shape when turned out.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that carries the almonds and gelatine.

The step that matters

Stir the gelatine mixture into the almond mixture over low heat. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat, and high heat can curdle them into a grainy texture. Keeping the heat low and stirring constantly yields a smooth custard.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Cocoafits about as well
  4. Walnutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, milk. 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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