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 soak 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 as needed.
Make the paste
Mix in the powdered sugar thoroughly.
Place the mixture in a small saucepan over a very gentle heat, stirring until it is dry and does not stick to your fingers.
Transfer the paste to an earthen 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
- Form the main body of the paste, providing flavor and a smooth, fine texture when pounded.
- Bitter almonds
- Add a characteristic aroma and depth of flavor to the paste.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the paste and helps it bind into a smooth, workable mass.
The step that matters
Drying over gentle heat. Heating the paste very gently drives off moisture so it stops sticking to the fingers. Too much heat can scorch the sugar and almonds, while too little leaves the paste wet and soft.
“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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