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Dessert

Chocolate Blanc Mange

A gelatin dessert made with chocolate, milk, sugar, and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Blanc Mange

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatin in 1 cup of water for 1 hour.

  2. Rub the grated chocolate smooth in a little milk.

Make the blanc manger

  1. Boil 2 cups of milk, then add the soaked gelatin and chocolate mixture, along with 1 cup of sugar.

  2. Boil all together for 8 to 10 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.

  4. Beat in the whipped egg whites flavored with vanilla.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Gelatine
Sets the milk mixture into a firm, sliceable custard as it cools.
Egg whites
Whipped to foam, they lighten the set dessert and add a delicate texture.
Milk
Forms the creamy base that the gelatine and chocolate set within.
Grated chocolate
Adds rich chocolate flavour and colour to the base.
Sugar
Sweetens the dessert and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Beat in the whipped egg whites flavored with vanilla. Egg whites whip best when clean and free of fat, and they must be folded gently into a cooled mixture. If the base is too hot, the foam collapses and the dessert loses its airy texture.

“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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