Why it works: Almond and asparagus share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 94 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Blanc Mange
Ingredients
Directions
Make the blanc mange
Break one ounce of isinglass into very small pieces; wash it well, and pour on a pint of boiling water.
Next morning, add a quart of milk, boil it till the isinglass is dissolved, strain it.
Put in two ounces sweet almonds, blanched and pounded.
Sweeten it, and put it in the mould—when stiff, turn them into a deep dish, and put raspberry cream around them.
Decorate and colour
For a change, stick thin slips of blanched almonds all over the blanc mange, and dress round with syllabub, nicely frothed.
Some moulds require colouring— for an ear of corn, mix the yolk of an egg with a little of the blanc mange; fill the grains of the corn with it— and when quite set, pour in the white, but take care it is not warm enough to melt the yellow.
For a bunch of asparagus, colour a little with spinach juice, to fill the green tops of the heads.
Fruit must be made the natural colour of what it represents.
Cochineal and alkanet root pounded and dissolved in brandy, make good colouring; but blanc mange should never be served without raspberry cream or syllabub to eat with it.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Asparagus | 6 spears (90g) | 27 |
| Almond | 1 almond (1.2g) | 7 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Almond + asparagustop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together94 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Milk + asparagustop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together650 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Almond + milktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Isinglass
- Sets the milk into a firm, wobbly jelly as it cools.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy body of the dessert once the isinglass is dissolved in it.
- Sweet almonds
- Add nutty flavour and a delicate, fine texture to the mixture.
The step that matters
Dissolving the isinglass fully in the milk. Isinglass only sets properly when completely dissolved. Undissolved pieces leave specks and weak spots, so the mixture must be boiled until clear before straining.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, asparagus):
- Beansfits better
- Peasfits better
- Peanutfits about as well
- Almondthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, asparagus. 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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