Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 43,450 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Another Blanc Mange
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the isinglass
Break the isinglass into small pieces and wash it well.
Soak the isinglass in 1 pint of boiling water overnight.
Make the blancmange
Add 1 pint of cream and 1 pint of milk to the soaked isinglass and bring to a boil.
Strain the mixture through a cloth.
Blend in 2 ounces of pounded blanched almonds and sweeten to taste.
Pour the mixture into molds and let it set.
Garnish and serve
Garnish with slips of almonds and serve with syllabub or whipped cream.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,679 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
- Isinglass
- Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the cream and milk mixture as it cools.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture with fat.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that dilutes the cream and carries the setting agent.
- Blanched almonds
- Contribute nutty flavour and a slightly thickened, grainy body when pounded.
The step that matters
Bringing the isinglass mixture to a boil. Isinglass must fully dissolve in the hot liquid before straining; if it is not properly melted, it will not set evenly and the blancmange may be lumpy or weak.
Flavor stand-ins for the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, milk, sugar):
- Almondthe original
- Chestnutabout as good a flavor fit
- Pistachioabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, milk, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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