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Dessert

Fruit Blanc Mange

A dessert of stewed fruit thickened with cornstarch, set in molds, served with cream and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓

Fruit Blanc Mange

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

  1. Stew the fresh or canned fruit until soft, then strain off the juice and sweeten to taste.

  2. Place the juice in a double boiler over heat until it boils.

Make the blanc manger

  1. While boiling, stir in the cornstarch mixed with a little cold water.

  2. Continue stirring until the mixture is sufficiently cooked.

  3. Pour into molds that have been wet with cold water and set aside to cool.

Serve

  1. Serve with cream and sugar.

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 + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cornstarch
Thickens the fruit juice into a set, sliceable custard as it cooks and gels.
Fresh or canned fruit
Provides the juice that gives the dessert its flavor and color.
Cream
Adds richness and a soft, smooth contrast to the tart fruit.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit juice and balances its natural tartness.

The step that matters

Stirring the cornstarch into the boiling juice. Cornstarch must be stirred constantly while it heats so it disperses evenly and does not clump. Once it boils and is fully cooked, the starch swells and thickens the juice; undercooked starch leaves a pasty, raw taste and weak set.

“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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