Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓
Neapolitan Blanc-mange
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Heat 3 cups of milk in a saucepan, reserving 1 cup to soak the gelatin.
Soak the gelatin in the reserved milk until softened.
When the milk is scalding hot, stir in the gelatin and the pounded almonds.
Boil for about 5 minutes, then add the sugar and ensure the gelatin is fully dissolved.
Pour the mixture into 4 cups.
Colour the layers
In one cup, add the grated chocolate.
In another cup, beat in the egg yolk for colour.
In a third cup, mix in the fruit colouring or currant jelly.
Layer and unmold
Wet a mold with cold water.
Pour the white mixture into the mold, adding shaved citron or candied cherries.
Set the mold on ice until cold and stiff.
Pour in the pink mixture.
Pour in the yellow mixture with chopped raisins or figs.
Pour in the chocolate.
Allow each layer to stiffen before adding the next.
To unmold, dip the mold briefly in warm water or wrap a hot cloth around it for a minute.
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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Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,781 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Almond + chocolatetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,733 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the milk mixture into a firm, sliceable body as it cools.
- Milk
- Forms the main liquid base that the gelatine sets into each layer.
- Blanched almonds
- Add nutty flavour and body to the white base.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the milk base.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and colour to the layer it is beaten into.
- Grated chocolate
- Gives the chocolate layer its flavour and dark colour.
The step that matters
Let each layer stiffen before adding the next. Gelatine sets as the mixture cools. If a warm layer is poured onto one that is not yet firm, the two layers blend and the sharp colour divisions are lost.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, almond, sugar, chocolate, egg, raisin):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, almond, sugar, chocolate, egg, raisin. 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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