Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,673 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Blanc Mange
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Mix the corn flour with a little of the cold cream or milk.
Pour the mixture over the remainder of the boiling cream or milk.
Return to the pan with the sugar and boil gently for five minutes.
When nearly cold, stir in the crushed almonds and almond essence.
Set and serve
Pour into a china mold and let it firm up.
Once firm, turn out the 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together485 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth, set custard as it cooks and cools.
- Crushed almonds
- Add nutty flavour and a slightly grainy body to the pudding.
- Cream or milk
- Provides the liquid base and richness that the corn flour thickens.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and balances the almond flavour.
The step that matters
Mix the corn flour with cold liquid before adding it to the boiling milk. Corn flour clumps if it meets hot liquid directly. Starch dispersed in cold liquid first hydrates evenly, so it thickens smoothly when heated.
“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
Corn Cake90 recipes
Corn Starch Cake89 recipes
Almond Sponge Cake26 recipes
Almond Custard22 recipesThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.