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Dessert

Blanc-manger Aux Amandes

A chilled almond gelatin dessert flavored with orange flower water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Blanc-manger Aux Amandes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the almond milk

  1. Finely grind the sweet and bitter almonds and mix with the milk.

  2. Strain the mixture through a cloth to extract the almond milk.

Make the gelatin syrup

  1. In a saucepan, combine the gelatin, sugar, and water; heat while stirring until dissolved.

  2. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.

Set and serve

  1. Once cooled, add the almond milk and orange flower water; mix well.

  2. Pour the mixture into a mold and place it in ice.

  3. Chill for 2 hours, then unmold and serve.

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

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

  2. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,696 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

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

  5. 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

Sweet almonds
Provide the main almond flavour and body of the blanc-manger.
Bitter almonds
Add a deeper, aromatic almond flavour in small quantity.
Milk
Carries the almond flavour and gives the set dessert a creamy texture.
Gelatin
Sets the mixture into a firm, sliceable form as it chills.
Sugar
Sweetens the dessert and helps balance the almond flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the almond milk once the gelatin syrup has cooled. If the gelatin mixture is still hot, it can thin the almond milk and weaken the set. Gelatin only firms reliably as it cools, so the mixture should be cool but still liquid before it is combined and poured into the mold.

“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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