Why it works: Milk and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,655 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Moss Blanc Mange
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the moss
Pick out any gritty or sandy particles from the moss and soak it in cold water for about 12 hours.
Make the blancmange
Drain the moss and place it in a saucepan with the milk.
Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
Sweeten the mixture to taste and add the cinnamon or any other spice.
Once the moss is dissolved, strain it through a sieve into a mold.
Let it cool; it will turn out easily and resemble a firm blanc-mange.
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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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Iceland or carrageen moss
- Seaweed gel that sets the milk into a firm, wobbly blancmange as it cools.
- Milk
- Forms the body of the dessert and, with the moss, becomes the set custard-like base.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the blancmange to taste.
- Cinnamon stick
- Adds warm aroma to the milk as it simmers.
The step that matters
Simmering the moss in milk. The moss must dissolve fully before straining, since undissolved pieces will not set. Stirring prevents the milk from scorching on the base of the pan, which would give a burnt taste.
“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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