Skip to main content
Dessert

Another Blancmange

A chilled almond and lemon milk dessert thickened with gelatin and finished with brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Another Blancmange

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse and dissolve

  1. Infuse the lemon rind and almonds in the milk for 1 hour.

  2. Add sugar and gelatine; boil over low heat, stirring until dissolved.

  3. Remove any scum that forms.

Finish and set

  1. Stir in the cream and strain into a bowl.

  2. Gently stir until nearly cold to prevent the cream from rising.

  3. Gradually add the brandy, then pour into a mould when nearly cold.

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. Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the gelatine sets into a creamy body.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable custard once it cools.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and almonds.
Rich cream
Adds fat for a smooth, soft texture and a silky mouthfeel.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour that complements the almond and lemon.

The step that matters

Stir until nearly cold before moulding. If the mixture is still hot, the cream rises and separates instead of staying evenly distributed. Stirring while it cools keeps the fat dispersed, and adding brandy and pouring near cold keeps the set smooth.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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

Lemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipesBrandy PeachesBrandy Peaches68 recipes