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Dessert

Blanc Mange

A custard-like dessert made with isinglass, cream, almonds, cinnamon, lemon, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Blanc Mange

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Combine 1 ounce of isinglass and 1 pint of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, adding 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon until the isinglass melts.

  2. Stir in 3/4 pint of cream, 2 ounces of sweet almonds, and 6 beaten bitter almonds.

  3. Add a bit of lemon peel and sweeten to taste, then stir over heat until the mixture boils again.

Strain and set

  1. Strain the mixture, let it cool, and squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon.

  2. Pour the cooled custard into molds and garnish as desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the liquid into a sliceable dessert as it cools.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the set dessert a smooth, creamy texture.
Sweet almonds
Provide nutty flavour and body to the custard, with fat that softens the texture.
Bitter almonds
Contribute a concentrated almond aroma that flavours the custard in small amounts.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and balances the rich cream and almonds.

The step that matters

Stir in the isinglass until fully melted. Isinglass must dissolve completely in the hot liquid; undissolved pieces leave grainy spots and weaken the set. Keep the mixture hot enough to dissolve it but avoid over-boiling the cream.

Flavor stand-ins for the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, cream, almond, sugar):

  1. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  2. Raisinbetter flavor fit
  3. Figbetter flavor fit
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, cream, almond, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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