Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Raspberry Blanc Mange
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Stew the raspberries and strain off the juice.
Sweeten the juice to taste and place it over the fire.
When it boils, stir in the corn starch that has been wet in cold water.
Use 4 tablespoons of corn starch for each 2 cups of juice.
Continue stirring until sufficiently cooked.
Mold and serve
Pour into molds that have been wet in cold water and set aside to cool.
Serve with cream and sugar.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + creamtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor, color, and the juice that becomes the pudding.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the hot juice as its starch swells, so the pudding sets when cooled.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, soft mouthfeel alongside the tart raspberry flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the raspberry juice and balances its natural tartness.
The step that matters
Keep stirring the corn starch until the juice is fully cooked. Starch thickens only when hot, and stirring keeps the granules dispersed so no lumps form. Undercooked starch leaves a raw, pasty taste and a weak set.
“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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