Skip to main content
Dessert

Blancmange of Almonds

A chilled almond dessert made with milk, sugar, isinglass, liqueur, cream, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓

Blancmange of Almonds

Ingredients

Directions

Make the almond base

  1. Finely pound the almonds in a mortar with a little water to prevent oiling.

  2. Add the milk and rub the mixture through a fine sieve.

  3. Sweeten with sugar and mix in the warm isinglass.

Set and chill

  1. When it begins to congeal, stir in the liqueur.

  2. Beat the cream and egg whites to a solid froth, then fold into the mixture.

  3. Pour into a mold and set it in ice to chill.

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

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

  2. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the main flavour and body of the blancmange once ground into a smooth base.
Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the mixture as it cools.
Egg whites
Whipped to a froth, they add lightness and airy texture to the set dessert.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel, and is whipped to lighten the texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that carries the ground almonds and gives a creamy body.
Sugar
Sweetens the base and balances the flavour of the almonds.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped cream and egg whites. Fold gently once the mixture has begun to thicken. If it is too warm or too set, the whipped foam collapses and the dessert loses its airy texture; if it is still too liquid, the foam may separate out.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pecansfits about as well
  3. Pistachiofits less well
  4. Chestnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, cream, egg. 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.

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes