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Dessert

Quince Blanc-mange, with Almond Cream

A dessert made from quince juice and almond paste thickened with isinglass and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Quince and almond share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 69 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Quince Blanc-mange, with Almond Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almond cream

  1. Blanch and beat the almonds to a smooth paste, adding a few drops of water to prevent oiling.

  2. Pour the boiling quince juice over the almond paste and stir together.

  3. Place the mixture in a strong cloth, twisting the ends to express the cream from the almonds.

Make and set the blancmange

  1. Put the juice back on the fire with the sugar and bring to a boil.

  2. Add the isinglass and simmer for 5 minutes, skimming off any scum.

  3. Stir the blanc-mange until nearly cold, then mold it for serving.

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. Quince + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together69 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

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

  3. Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,444 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

Quince juice
Forms the liquid base and provides the main fruit flavor of the dessert.
Jordan almonds
Their pressed cream gives the blancmange its creamy body and nutty flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the quince juice.
Isinglass
Acts as a setting agent that firms the liquid into a sliceable, moldable dessert.

The step that matters

Stirring until nearly cold before molding. Isinglass sets as the mixture cools, so it must be stirred smooth while still fluid. Molding too early traps lumps and uneven texture, while waiting too long lets it set before it fills the mold.

Swap the quince

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Quincethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar. 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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