Name: Splendid Macaroni
Ingredients: 1 pound sweet almonds; 3 egg whites; 1 pound powdered sugar; Additional sugar for dredging

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 ↓

Splendid Macaroni

Ingredients

1 pound sweet almonds
3 egg whites
1 pound powdered sugar
Additional sugar for dredging

Directions

Blanch the almonds and dry them well.
Pound the almonds very fine using a mortar or a rolling pin.
Add the egg whites and powdered sugar, then mix well for 10 minutes.
Prepare a baking pan or baking iron.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the pan and dredge a little sugar on top.

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.

Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,645 recipes

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