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Dessert

Blanc Manger, or Orgeat Jelly

A clear almond jelly made with almond milk, isinglass, and syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,800 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Blanc Manger, or Orgeat Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly base

  1. Pound the almonds to produce 1½ pints of almond milk.

  2. Add 1 ounce of clarified isinglass and ½ pint of syrup to the almond milk.

Color and set in molds

  1. If desired, divide the mixture and add food coloring to create different colors.

  2. Pour the mixture into molds in layers about 1 inch deep, allowing each layer to set before adding the next.

  3. Use various molds to create different shapes, coloring each layer as desired.

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

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

  2. Almond + syruptop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together746 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Milk + syruptop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,143 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the flavor and body of the almond milk that forms the jelly.
Clarified isinglass
Gelatinizes the liquid so the mixture sets into a firm jelly.
Syrup
Adds sweetness and helps the jelly stay clear.

The step that matters

Letting each layer set before adding the next. If a new layer is poured onto a layer that has not set, the two layers mix and blur the colors. Each layer must firm up enough to hold its shape before the next is added.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, syrup):

  1. Chestnutfits about as well
  2. Peanutfits about as well
  3. Cocoafits about as well
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, syrup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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