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Dessert

Blancmange Eggs

A dessert of eggs set in a sweetened blancmange, served chilled with stewed fruit or jam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. R. Allinson · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Blancmange Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Make the blancmange shells

  1. Make a blancmange with 1 pint of milk, 1 oz. of Allinson cornflour, and 1 oz. of Allinson fine wheatmeal.

  2. Pierce the ends of 4 or 6 eggs, and let the contents drain away.

  3. Rinse the shells with cold water, then fill them with the hot blancmange mixture.

  4. When cold, gently peel off the shells.

  5. Serve on a glass dish nicely arranged with stewed fruit or jam.

Make the orange custard

  1. Take the juice of 7 oranges and 1 lemon and the grated rind of the lemon.

  2. Add enough water to the juice to make 1 quart of liquid.

  3. Set that over the fire to boil, keeping back a 1/4 pint for mixing the cornflour smooth, and add the sugar.

  4. Separate the yolks of the eggs from the whites; beat up the yolks and add them to the cornflour and juice when those are smooth.

  5. When the liquid over the fire boils, stir in the mixture of eggs, cornflour, and juice, and keep stirring over the fire for 2 minutes.

  6. Have ready the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth, mix it lightly with the rest, and pour the mixture into wetted moulds.

  7. Turn out when cold and serve when required.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

301Calories
16 gProtein
14 gFat
31 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By T. R. Allinson. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,696 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Egg and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and beaten whites lighten it into a soft set.
Cornflour (in the method)
Starch thickens the liquid as it heats, giving the custard body.
Orange juice
Provides the main flavour and acidity of the custard.

The step that matters

Stirring the eggs into the boiling liquid. Egg yolks curdle if they are added to very hot liquid too fast or stirred poorly. Keep stirring steadily and fold in the whipped whites gently so the custard stays smooth and light.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Orangethe original
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Raspberryfits less well
  4. Figfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, lemon. 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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