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Dessert

Arrow-root Blancmange

A sweet dessert made by cooking milk with arrow-root and almond extract, then setting in molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,800 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Arrow-root Blancmange

Ingredients

Directions

Make the blancmange

  1. Heat 1 pint of milk in a saucepan until boiling.

  2. Moisten ½ cup of arrow-root with a little cold milk in a bowl.

  3. Pour the boiling milk into the arrow-root mixture while stirring continuously.

  4. Return the mixture to the saucepan.

  5. Boil for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Set and serve

  1. Dip the molds in cold water.

  2. Pour the mixture into the molds.

  3. Let the mixture cool, then turn it out of the molds to serve.

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 + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Arrow-root
Thickens the milk into a smooth, set custard-like mass as it boils and cools.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the arrow-root thickens into the blancmange.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness to the set blancmange.
Almond extract
Adds aroma and flavour to the blancmange.

The step that matters

Boil for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Arrow-root starch must reach boiling and be stirred continuously so the granules swell evenly and thicken the milk. Stopping early or letting it scorch leaves a thin or lumpy result.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Cocoafits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Peanutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, 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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