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Dessert

Chocolate Blanc Mange

A chilled chocolate dessert made with milk, gelatin, chocolate, eggs, 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 custard base

  1. Heat the milk to boiling.

  2. Pour in the soaked gelatin and stir until dissolved.

  3. Add sugar to the beaten yolks and stir until smooth.

  4. Beat the chocolate into the yolk mixture.

  5. Gradually pour in the scalding milk while stirring continuously.

  6. Return the mixture to a saucepan and heat gradually, stirring until it almost boils.

Finish and set

  1. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl.

  2. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites and vanilla.

  3. Pour into molds that have been wet with cold water.

  4. Serve with whipped 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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, 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

Gelatin
Sets the mousse so it holds its shape when unmolded.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard, and folded whites add lightness and airiness.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the custard thickens into.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and richness to the mousse.
Sugar
Sweetens the mousse and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air that gives the mousse its lightness. Stirring or deflating them vigorously knocks out this air, leaving a dense texture.

“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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