No. 3139

Strawberry Blanc-Mange

Blanc-Manger aux Fraises

Pound half a pound of freshly peeled almonds, a few at a time; dilute with a quart of cold milk and press the whole slowly through a napkin held by two persons, so as to extract all the liquid thoroughly; mix into this almond milk three-quarters of a pound of powdered sugar, some lemon peel or half a split vanilla bean, and a quarter of an hour later put into the liquid fifteen clarified gelatine leaves. Strain and try a little on ice to judge of its strength. Incrust a plain cylindrical mold (Fig. 150) on ice, coat it with clear jelly mixed with strawberry or orange juice and filtered through blotting paper. Stir on ice two-thirds of the blanc-mange to thicken it slightly, using a spoon, and as soon as perfect mix in a fine salpicon of candied pineapple; pour this into the coated mold and leave it stand for one hour. Thicken the remainder of the preparation on ice, and with it fill five small timbale molds (No. 2, Fig. 137), also incrusted on a thick bed of ice spread over the bottom of a deep sautoir. Three-quarters of an hour later empty out the centers of the small molds with a tin tube dipped in hot water; to remove these pieces it is only necessary to heat the bottom of the molds slightly; replace them on ice and fill the center with some of the same preparation mingled with strawberry juice (No. 3673); let this get hard. Unmold the small timbales and cut each one across in three parts. Dip the large mold quickly into hot water; invert on a cold dish and surround the base with the rings, then fill up the hollow with Chantilly cream (No. 50), flavored with almonds, having it dome-shaped. Surround this dome with a few large strawberries, each one cut in two and dressed flat to resemble a rosette. Serve at the same time a bowlful of strawberry puree sweetened with syrup, having it very cold.

← No. 3138 Blanc-Mange a la Smolenska Cold Entremets — Creams, Jellies & Charlottes No. 3140 Carolina Border with Champagne →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's blanc-mange is a real almond-milk jelly, not a cornstarch pudding, and almost all of the work is in the two things a modern cook is least practised at: extracting almond milk and judging sheet gelatine by feel. Read the setting-strength note first.

Test the set before you commitThe instruction to "try a little on ice to judge of its strength" is the hinge of the recipe. Nineteenth-century gelatine leaves varied in size and setting power, so fifteen leaves is not a number you can transfer to a modern box. Chill a spoonful until firm, and add more softened gelatine or more almond milk until it sets soft enough to quiver but firm enough to unmold.
Almond milkHalf a pound of blanched almonds pounded and steeped in a quart of cold milk, then wrung out. A food processor does the pounding; a doubled square of cheesecloth or a nut-milk bag replaces the napkin and the two persons. Squeeze hard — the yield of liquid, not the pulp, is the dish.
Powdered sugarIn this book that means finely ground granulated sugar, not modern confectioners' sugar with its cornstarch. Caster or superfine sugar is the closest match; three-quarters of a pound is about 1 2/3 cups.
Incrusting on iceTo incrust is to bed the mold in a deep pan of crushed ice, as the recipe directs, so the walls chill hard and the jelly lining sets on contact. A freezer will do the same job more slowly; the ice bath is faster and lets you work at the counter.
Filtering the jellyBlotting paper is doing the work of a coffee filter. Strawberry or orange juice clouds a clear jelly, and the lining coat is meant to be transparent, so filter it and don't press the pulp through.
SalpiconA salpicon is simply a fine, even dice — here of candied pineapple, cut about 1/8 inch. Fold it in only when the blanc-mange has thickened to the consistency of raw egg white, or it will sink to what becomes the top of the unmolded dish.
The ringsThe small timbales are hollowed with a heated tin tube, refilled with strawberry-tinted blanc-mange, then sliced crosswise into three, giving pink-centred rings for the base. Any small metal dariole or timbale mold works; an apple corer warmed in hot water substitutes for the tube.
UnmoldingDip quickly — three or four seconds in hot water, no more. Almond-milk jelly is delicately set and a long dip melts the outer layer into a slick that slumps on the dish.
Yield and serviceA quart of almond milk plus sugar and gelatine makes roughly 8 to 10 servings once the Chantilly and strawberries are added. Everything should be assembled cold and served cold, with the strawberry purée in a separate bowl straight from the ice.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of a great restaurant kitchen, and its cold entremets section preserves the full French repertoire of molded creams and jellies at its most elaborate. Blanc-manger — literally "white eating" — is one of the oldest named dishes in European cookery, and in medieval form it was a savory-sweet pounded mixture of almonds and shredded capon or fish; by the nineteenth century the meat had dropped away and what remained was the almond milk, sweetened and set. Ranhofer's version keeps the authentic method, wringing real almond milk through a cloth rather than flavoring dairy with extract, and then builds on it in the manner of the period: a jelly-lined mold, a collar of sliced rings, a dome of Chantilly, halved strawberries laid flat as a rosette. The multi-part construction is characteristic of grand-restaurant service.