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Dessert

Almond Blanc-mange

A custard-like almond dessert made with milk, eggs, corn starch, blanched almonds, and vanilla, served with fruit syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Blanc-mange

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it comes to a boil.

  2. Blanch and pound the almonds with a little sugar until fine.

  3. Gradually add the almond paste to the warm milk.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with corn starch, salt, and sugar.

  2. Stir the egg mixture into the scalding milk.

  3. Add vanilla and mix well.

  4. Just before removing from heat, fold in the beaten egg whites.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold and let it cool.

  2. Serve with fruit syrup poured over the top.

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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

  3. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that thickens into the creamy body of the dessert.
Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the custard and the whites add lightness when folded in.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk as it heats, giving the blanc-mange its firm, sliceable set.
Blanched almonds
Provide the nutty almond flavour and body that defines the dessert.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the flavour of the almonds.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg mixture into the hot milk. If the milk is too hot or added too quickly, the egg proteins can scramble into lumps. Adding the egg mixture gradually while stirring, and folding in the whites just before removing from heat, keeps the custard smooth.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, corn, sugar, vanilla, syrup):

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Chestnutfits about as well
  3. Hazelnutfits about as well
  4. Beansfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, corn, sugar, vanilla, syrup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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