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Dessert

Quince Blanc-mange

A quince dessert made by dissolving quince juice with isinglass, sugar, and thick cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Quince Blanc-mange

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Dissolve an ounce of isinglass in a pint of prepared quince juice.

  2. Add ten ounces of sugar, roughly pounded, and stir gently over a clear fire for twenty to thirty minutes, or until the juice jellies when dropped from a spoon. Remove the scum carefully.

Combine and set

  1. Pour the boiling jelly gradually into half a pint of thick cream, stirring briskly until the mixture is nearly cold.

  2. Pour the mixture into a mould rubbed with a small amount of very pure salad oil, or into a mould dipped in cold water.

  3. Allow to set before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

100Calories
0 gProtein
5 gFat
13 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Quincenot in our table0

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

By Eliza Acton. 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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Sugar + quincetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,444 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Quince + creamtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together203 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Isinglass (in the method)
Gelatin-like protein that sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Sugar
Sweetens the dish and helps the jelly firm as the juice is reduced.
Quince juice
Forms the flavourful liquid base that becomes the jelly.
Thick cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body that softens the jelly's bite.

The step that matters

Pour the boiling jelly gradually into the cream while stirring briskly. Adding hot jelly slowly and stirring keeps the cream evenly blended. If poured in quickly or left unstirred, the isinglass can begin setting in lumps before the mixture is evenly combined, giving a grainy texture.

Swap the quince

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Quincethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream. 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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