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Dessert

Gelatine Blanc-mange

A chilled gelatin dessert made with milk, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla, served with sugar and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Gelatine Blanc-mange

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Soak the gelatine in 1½ pints of milk for 1 hour.

  2. Heat the milk mixture over boiling water until it comes to a boil.

  3. Add the beaten egg yolks and sugar, stirring well.

Set and serve

  1. Once slightly cooled, fold in the beaten egg whites and vanilla extract.

  2. Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.

  3. Serve chilled with sugar and cream.

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

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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 milk mixture into a soft, sliceable body as it chills.
Egg yolks
Thicken the milk and add richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
Egg whites
Beaten in at the end, they add lightness and an airy texture.
Milk
Forms the base of the dessert and carries the gelatine and eggs.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks can scramble if added to very hot liquid. Stirring them in well, while the mixture is heated but not boiling vigorously, keeps the custard smooth and thickened.

“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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