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Dessert

Blanc Mange

A sweet almond dessert made with isinglass, rose water, sugar, and cream, set into a firm pudding.

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

Blanc Mange

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the isinglass

  1. Whip the isinglass, then pour boiling water over it to dissolve.

  2. Break up the mixture the next day.

Make the almond base

  1. Blend the mixture with blanched almonds, rose water, and sugar.

  2. Heat the mixture on the fire.

  3. Let the mixture boil 5 to 6 times.

  4. Remove the mixture from heat.

  5. Strain the mixture through a muslin bag.

  6. Simmer the cream (or cream and milk mixture) on the fire.

  7. Stir in the prepared isinglass.

  8. Let them simmer together briefly.

  9. Remove from heat.

Mold and cool

  1. Pour into a pitcher.

  2. Cool the mixture.

  3. Fill the molds with the mixture once cooled.

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

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

  2. Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Rose + sugartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,584 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Isinglass
Sets the liquid into a firm, tender gel as it cools.
Bitter and sweet almonds
Provide the main nutty, almond flavor and some body to the pudding.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and balances the almond flavor.
Rose water
Adds a delicate floral aroma.

The step that matters

Stirring in the isinglass and simmering briefly. Isinglass is a gelling agent that must be fully dissolved and evenly blended into the hot cream. Simmering too long or boiling it hard can weaken its setting power, so the pudding may not firm up properly in the molds.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pistachiofits about as well
  3. Chestnutfits less well
  4. Walnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against rose, 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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