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 ↓
Blanc-mange
Ingredients
Directions
Infuse
Combine milk, isinglass, lemon rind, and sugar in a saucepan.
Let the mixture sit by the fire until well flavored.
Prepare the almonds
Blanch the almonds.
Pound the blanched almonds into a paste.
Add the almond paste to the milk mixture.
Set
Bring the mixture just to a boil.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a jug.
Stir in the cream and let it cool, stirring occasionally.
Pour the mixture into a previously oiled mold, avoiding any sediment at the bottom of the jug.
Optional richer version
(Optional) For a richer version, use 1½ pints of cream and dissolve the isinglass in ½ pint of boiling water.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Milk + almondtop 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
- Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the milk into a sliceable, wobbly dessert.
- New milk
- Forms the liquid base and provides the creamy body of the blanc-mange.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat, giving a softer, smoother texture to the set dessert.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the dessert and balances the flavors of the almonds and lemon.
- Sweet almonds
- Contribute nutty flavor and body to the milk base once pounded into a paste.
The step that matters
Straining through a fine sieve and leaving sediment behind. Pounded almonds and fine particles can make the set dessert grainy and cloudy; straining removes them, and leaving the sediment in the jug keeps the mold smooth.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, almond, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, almond, 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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