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Dessert

Chocolate Blanc-mange

A gelatin-based chocolate dessert made with milk, chocolate, sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Blanc-mange

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mousse base

  1. Soak the gelatine in a little water for one hour.

  2. Warm 1 quart of milk and stir in the soaked gelatine until dissolved.

  3. Dissolve ¼ cake of Baker's chocolate in 1 pint of milk over low heat.

  4. Once dissolved, add the chocolate mixture to the gelatine mixture.

  5. Sweeten to taste and add vanilla extract.

  6. Bring the mixture to a boil, then pour into molds.

Set

  1. Allow to set and harden in the refrigerator.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable mousse as it cools.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base that carries the chocolate and sets with the gelatine.
Baker's chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and richness that gives the mousse its body.

The step that matters

Bringing the mixture to a boil. Gelatine must be fully dissolved before setting; boiling a milk mixture can scorch the milk and cause it to scald on the bottom, so keep heat controlled and stir to prevent sticking.

“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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