Why it works: Lemon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,655 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Blanc-mange
Ingredients
Directions
Flavour the milk
Steep the lemon rind and almonds in the milk for about 1-1/2 hour.
Put the milk into a saucepan, with the isinglass, lemon rind, and sugar, and let these ingredients stand by the side of the fire until the milk is well flavoured.
Add the almonds, which should be blanched and pounded in a mortar to a paste, and let the milk just boil up.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve or muslin into a jug.
Set and serve
Add the cream, and stir the mixture occasionally until nearly cold.
Let it stand for a few minutes.
Pour the mixture into the mould, which should be previously oiled with the purest salad oil, or dipped in cold water.
Do not pour the sediment at the bottom of the jug into the mould.
To turn it out, loosen the edges of the blanc-mange from the mould, place a dish on it, and turn it quickly over; it should come out easily, and the blanc-mange have a smooth glossy appearance when the mould is oiled.
Garnish as fancy dictates.
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. See the original page.
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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Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that carries the flavours and sets into a soft body.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the set dessert.
- Isinglass (in the method)
- Gelatinous setting agent that firms the milk mixture as it cools.
- Almonds
- Provides a bitter almond aroma that flavours the milk.
The step that matters
Pour off the sediment. Sediment settles at the bottom of the jug and would cloud the set blancmange, so pouring only the clear upper mixture keeps it smooth and clear.
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cream, almond):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Coconutbetter flavor fit
- Figbetter flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, almond. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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