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Dessert

Chocolate Blanc Mange

A chilled chocolate mousse made with milk, sugar, gelatin, chocolate, egg whites, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. In a double boiler, heat the milk and sugar until hot.

  2. Soak the gelatin in water, then add it to the hot mixture.

  3. Stir in the grated chocolate until smooth and cook until thick.

  4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat in the whipped egg whites and add vanilla.

  2. Mold in large or individual molds and garnish.

  3. Serve cold with pudding sauce or cream and sugar.

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. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + chocolatetop 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 mixture so it holds its shape when molded and chilled.
Whites of 3 eggs
Whipped into the mixture to make it light and airy.
Grated chocolate
Gives the mousse its chocolate flavor and body as it cooks thick.
Sugar
Sweetens the milk and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Beat in the whipped egg whites. The mixture should be cooled slightly before folding in whipped whites. If it is still hot, the foam collapses and the mousse loses its lightness.

“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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