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Dessert

Almond Jelly

A sweet almond jelly made with gelatine, water, blanched almonds, cream, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine

  1. Dissolve the gelatine in 1 quart of water to make jelly.

Make the almond paste

  1. Blend the blanched almonds into a paste in a mortar, gradually adding 15 teaspoons of cream and 1 cup of sugar.

Combine and set

  1. Combine the almond paste with the gelatine and simmer gently, stirring constantly until it is about to boil.

  2. Remove from heat and stir until almost cold.

  3. Pour into molds and refrigerate or place in a cool area to congeal.

  4. Briefly dip the mold in warm water to release the jelly easily.

  5. Serve with rich cream.

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. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

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

  3. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Blanched almonds
Provide the main flavour and body of the almond jelly once ground into a paste.
Cream
Adds richness and softens the flavour, giving a smoother, creamier texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the jelly and balances the almond flavour.

The step that matters

Remove from heat and stir until almost cold. Gelatine begins to set as it cools, so the mixture should be stirred off the heat until nearly cold before molding. Stirring while hot keeps it fluid, and waiting too long lets it set unevenly in the pan.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pistachiofits about as well
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Hazelnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, 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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