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
Make the mixture
Pour boiling water over gelatine and boil until dissolved, stirring constantly.
Squeeze lemon juice over sugar and stir into cream and sherry wine until well mixed.
Add the dissolved gelatine and stir everything together.
Set and serve
Pour into moulds that have been wet with cold water.
Set the moulds on ice and let them stand until hard and cold.
Serve with sugar, cream, or a nice sauce.
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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Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,038 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Cream + winetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,887 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Patent gelatine
- Sets the liquid cream mixture into a firm, sliceable body as it cools.
- Fine white sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the flavour of the rich cream and wine.
- Rich cream
- Provides fat and richness, giving the set dessert a smooth, creamy texture.
- Sherry wine
- Adds acidity and aroma that balance the sweetness and richness of the cream.
The step that matters
Dissolving the gelatine fully. Gelatine must be completely dissolved in boiling water before it is mixed in, because undissolved granules will not set evenly and leave a grainy, weak texture in the finished blancmange.
“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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