Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and 15,679 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Blanc Mange, A-LA-francaise
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the almonds
Blanch the sweet and bitter almonds, then drain and dry them with a napkin.
Pound the almonds in a mortar, adding water to prevent oiling.
Make the milk
Transfer the pounded almonds to a pan and gradually beat in the filtered water with a silver spoon.
Spread a napkin over an oval dish, place the almond mixture on it, and wring it tightly to extract the milk.
Dissolve the crystallized sugar in the almond milk.
Strain the mixture through a napkin and add the warm clarified isinglass.
Set and serve
Pour the mixture into a pre-iced mold and refrigerate for two hours before serving.
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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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
- Sweet almonds
- Provide the main body and flavour of the milk once pounded and strained.
- Bitter almonds
- Add a sharp, aromatic note that balances the sweetness of the milk.
- Crystallized sugar
- Sweetens the milk and adds body to the finished drink.
- Clarified isinglass
- Gelatinises the milk so it sets in the mold rather than staying liquid.
The step that matters
Wringing the almond mixture. Wringing the pounded almonds tightly in a napkin is what extracts the milk. If the mixture is too dry or not wrung firmly, too little liquid is released and the milk will be weak. Adding water during pounding helps prevent the almonds from releasing oil, which would make the milk greasy.
“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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