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Almond Blanc Mange
Dissolve 11/½ heaping tablespoonfuls of powdered gelatine in ½ pint of milk. Add 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar, 1½ pints of milk and 1/2 teaspoonful of almond extract. Strain into a basin, stir occasionally until cool, then pour into a wet mold and set away in a cool place. Turn out when firm and serve with cream.
A quart-sized milk jelly with the fractions garbled in the original typesetting. The numbers need reading before anything else.
- The broken fractions"11/½ heaping tablespoonfuls" is almost certainly 1½ heaping tablespoons, and "1/2 pints of milk" is 1½ pints. That gives one quart of milk total, which matches the gelatine quantity. Treat any other reading with suspicion.
- Gelatine, then and now1½ heaping tablespoons of loose powdered gelatine is roughly 4½ to 5 teaspoons, or two ¼-oz envelopes. Two envelopes will set a quart firmly enough to unmold; older gelatine was less consistent in strength, which is why the measure runs generous.
- Dissolving properlyGelatine will not dissolve in cold milk by stirring alone. Sprinkle it over the ½ pint of milk and let it stand five minutes to soften, then warm gently until no grains remain when you rub a drop between your fingers. Do not boil it; scorched milk and weakened gel are both possible.
- Add the extract lastAlmond extract is alcohol-based and volatile. Stir it in after the mixture has come off the heat, along with the remaining cold milk, or much of the flavour goes off in steam.
- Why strainStraining catches undissolved gelatine and any milk skin. It is worth doing even if the mixture looks smooth.
- Stirring until coolThis is the hinge. A quart of sweetened milk left still will separate as it sets, leaving a pale watery layer beneath a richer one. Stir occasionally until the mixture thickens to the consistency of heavy cream, then mold it.
- A wet moldRinsing the mold with cold water and not drying it leaves a film that releases the jelly cleanly. To turn out, dip the mold briefly in warm water and invert onto a chilled plate.
- Setting and yield"A cool place" meant a cellar or icebox; four to six hours in the refrigerator will do it, and overnight is better. Serves six to eight, with cold pouring cream.
Blancmange comes from the Old French blanc manger, "white eating," and in medieval and early modern kitchens it was a genuinely almond-based dish: pounded blanched almonds steeped in water or broth, strained to a milk, and thickened with rice flour, isinglass or hartshorn shavings. Over time the almonds receded in many recipes, though almond blancmange made with real nuts persisted, and the name came to attach to whatever was white, sweet and molded. Commercial sheet and powdered gelatine, sold from the mid-nineteenth century onward, replaced the laborious business of boiling calves' feet or hartshorn, and a few drops of almond extract stood in for the nuts. The result is a dessert whose economy is the point: milk, sugar, a spoonful of gelatine, and a flavouring that costs pennies.