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Dessert

Blanc Mange

A chilled gelatin dessert made from cream, nuts, sugar, and isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and peach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 466 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Blanc Mange

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch and dry the almonds and peach kernels, then grate them.

Make the mixture

  1. In a pan, combine the grated nuts with the cream and isinglass.

  2. Heat the mixture on the stove, stirring constantly until the isinglass dissolves.

  3. Add the sugar and remove any scum that forms.

  4. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a mold.

Chill

  1. Chill the mold on ice until ready to serve.

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. Almond + peachtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  3. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Isinglass
Gelatin that sets the cream into a firm, sliceable dessert when chilled.
Cream or rich milk
Provides fat and body, giving the set dessert a smooth, rich texture.
Sweet almonds
Contribute nutty aroma and flavor and some body from the grated nut solids.
Peach kernels
Add a bitter almond-like aroma and flavor that complements the almonds.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and nuts.

The step that matters

Heating until the isinglass dissolves. Isinglass must fully dissolve with constant stirring; if it is not completely melted or the mixture boils hard, it may set unevenly or fail to gel properly.

Swap the peach

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, almond, sugar. 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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