Why it works: Corn and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 485 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Almond Corn-starch Blanc-mange
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the almond milk
Scald the milk with a pinch of baking soda stirred in.
Beat the almonds to a paste with the rose water.
Stir into the hot milk.
Simmer for five minutes.
Strain through thin muslin, pressing hard on the almonds.
Make the custard
Add the hot mixture to the beaten eggs and powdered sugar, then put on the heat.
Stir in the corn starch mixed with cold milk until thick.
Remove from heat.
Add flavoring.
Set and serve
Pour into a wet mold.
Set in ice to form.
Serve with sugar and cream.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together485 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together1,465 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the other ingredients are infused into and thickened.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the mixture as it heats, giving the blanc-mange its firm body.
- Eggs
- Add richness and help set the custard as they cook with the hot liquid.
- Blanched almonds
- Contribute nutty flavor and a fine, creamy texture once pounded and strained.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves smoothly into the warm custard base.
The step that matters
Add the hot mixture to the beaten eggs. Hot liquid poured onto eggs can scramble them, leaving lumps. Adding it gradually while stirring warms the eggs gently so the custard stays smooth and thickens evenly.
“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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