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 ↓
Arrow-root Blanche- Mange
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the arrow-root by mixing it with three times its quantity of water to create a mucilage.
Add milk gradually until the mixture reaches a moderate thickness.
Boil the mixture until it thickens sufficiently.
Pour the mixture into a mold and let it cool to set.
Once set, turn it out of the mold.
Serve with currant jelly, wine, lemon juice and sugar, or cream (avoid cream during convalescence).
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Currant + winetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,323 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, wine, lemon, sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, wine, lemon, sugar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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