Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Blancmange
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatine in ¼ pint of milk for 1 hour.
Blanch the bitter and sweet almonds.
Combine the almonds and lemon rind with 1¼ pint of milk and let it sit for 2 hours.
Make the blancmange
Pour the milk mixture into a saucepan and add loaf sugar.
Boil the milk, then pour it over the soaked gelatine and strain into a jug.
Stir occasionally until the mixture cools.
Pour the blancmange into a damp mold and let it set.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, wobbly structure as it cools.
- Milk
- Forms the body of the dessert and carries the almond and lemon flavour.
- Almonds
- Add nutty aroma and flavour to the milk during infusion.
The step that matters
Boil the milk, then pour it over the soaked gelatine. Gelatine must fully dissolve in warm liquid to set evenly; if the milk is not hot enough, or the gelatine is not stirred through, lumps and an uneven set can result.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, lemon, sugar):
- Milletfits about as well
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Chickpeafits about as well
- Almondthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, lemon, 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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