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Dessert

Almond Pie

A sweet pie made with almonds, sugar, bread crumbs, cream, and nutmeg, topped with citron or preserved orange peel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Blanch the almonds in white wine.

  2. Mix the blanched almonds with sugar, bread crumbs, cream, and grated nutmeg.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie dish.

  2. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).

  3. Top with citron or preserved orange peel after baking.

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 + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

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

  3. Nutmeg + orangetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the main body of the filling and its nutty flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during baking.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help the filling hold together as it bakes.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the filling tender rather than dry.
Nutmeg
Adds warm aroma to the filling.

The step that matters

Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C). Gentle, low heat cooks the cream and crumb filling through evenly while keeping it moist. Higher heat can dry the filling, toughen its texture, or scorch the surface before the centre sets.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, white wine, sugar, bread, cream, nutmeg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, white wine, sugar, bread, cream, nutmeg. 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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