Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Almond Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the almonds
Blanch the Jordan and bitter almonds, then place them in cold water for 1-2 hours.
Drain, wipe, and pound the almonds into a fine paste, adding a few drops of cold water to prevent oiling.
Make the paste
Mix in the sifted sugar thoroughly.
Transfer the mixture to a small preserving pan or enamelled stewpan.
Stir over a gentle heat until the paste is dry and does not stick to your fingers.
Immediately turn the paste into an earthen pan or jar and let it cool before use.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 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
- Jordan almonds
- Provide the main almond flavour and the oil and solids that form the paste.
- Bitter almonds
- Add a stronger, aromatic almond flavour that balances the sweetness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the paste and helps bind it into a smooth, workable mass as it dries.
The step that matters
Stirring over gentle heat until dry. Almonds are rich in oil, so heating them too fast or too long can make the paste grainy or oily. Gentle heat slowly drives off moisture so the paste dries without scorching or separating.
“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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