Why it works: Almond and peach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 466 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Almond Blanc Mange
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
In a porcelain saucepan, combine the milk, ground almonds, peach kernels, and sugar.
Place the saucepan in another pan with boiling water and bring to a boil.
Mix the corn starch with a little cold milk and stir it into the boiling mixture. Cook for 3 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Set and serve
Beat the egg whites with 2 teaspoons of sugar until stiff peaks form, then fold them into the mixture.
Quickly pour the mixture into a porcelain mold that has been dipped in cold water. Once cooled, turn the mold out onto a serving plate.
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 + peachtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Almond + corntop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together485 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + peachtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together781 recipes
Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Peach + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together94 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet almonds
- Provide the main flavor and a fine, creamy body to the blanc mange.
- Rich sweet milk
- Forms the liquid base that thickens into a soft, creamy set.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk as it heats, giving the dessert its firm, sliceable structure.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks and folded in, adding lightness and airiness to the texture.
- White granulated sugar
- Sweetens the dessert and helps keep the texture smooth.
The step that matters
Folding in the whipped egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks, and folding gently keeps that air in. Deflating the mixture by stirring it hard leaves a dense, less airy blanc mange.
“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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