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Dessert

Chocolate Blanc Mange

A chocolate dessert made by boiling chocolate, sugar, and water, then adding milk and gelatin, and setting in molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Chocolate Blanc Mange

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 chocolate base

  1. In a saucepan, combine the chocolate, sugar, and a little water.

  2. Boil the mixture for 1.5 hours.

Combine and set

  1. In another pot, boil 3 pints of milk.

  2. Add the chocolate mixture and the soaked gelatin to the boiling milk.

  3. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

  4. Pour the mixture into molds and let it set.

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. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Chocolate + gelatintop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together228 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the milk mixture into a firm, sliceable body as it cools.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base that gives the dessert its body and mild richness.
Sugar
Sweetens the chocolate and helps it blend smoothly into the milk.
Chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and color of the dessert.

The step that matters

Stirring while cooking the milk mixture. Gelatin and milk can scorch or form lumps if left unattended on heat. Constant stirring keeps the mixture even, so the gelatin disperses and the dessert sets smooth.

“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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