Why it works: Almond and raspberry match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 552 recipes mention both. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Blanc Mange
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the isinglass
Break the isinglass into very small pieces and wash it well.
Pour the boiling water over the isinglass and let it sit overnight.
Make the blanc-mange
The next morning, add the milk and boil until the isinglass is dissolved.
Strain the mixture and stir in the pounded almonds and sugar.
Pour the mixture into a mold and refrigerate until set.
Serve
Once set, turn the Blanc Mange out onto a deep dish and serve with raspberry cream or syllabub.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Almond + raspberrytop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together552 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Milk + raspberrytop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,014 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 77,875 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Isinglass
- Gelatine-like setting agent that firms the milk mixture as it cools.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy body and base liquid of the dessert.
- Sweet almonds
- Add nutty aroma and a rich, delicate flavour to the milk.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the milk and almonds.
The step that matters
Dissolving the isinglass in the milk. The isinglass must be fully dissolved by boiling so it sets evenly on cooling. Undissolved pieces leave a grainy, weak-setting blanc-mange.
“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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