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Dessert

Blanc-mange Strawberries

A dessert of strawberries set in a gelatin and cream mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Blanc-mange Strawberries

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Dissolve the gelatin in the water.

  2. Add the cream and sugar, then heat until nearly boiling.

  3. Let the mixture cool until nearly cold.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture over the sugared strawberries in a glass dish.

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. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the liquid cream mixture into a soft, wobbly custard as it cools.
Heavy cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the set dessert a smooth, creamy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the dessert and balances the tartness of the strawberries.
Strawberries
Provide fresh fruit flavor and acidity against the rich, sweet cream.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool until nearly cold. Gelatin sets as it cools, so pouring while the mixture is still hot can leave the strawberries floating or the dessert too loose to hold its shape.

“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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