The first comedic episode I ever saw from Monty Python’s Flying Circus involved giant blancmange puddings playing tennis at Wimbledon. The episode was zany enough to make me a Python fan, but it also stirred my culinary curiosity. Just what was a blancmange?
First included in an early 13th century Danish cookbook, blancmange–from the Old-French blanc-mangier, or “white dish”, is simply white pudding made from fresh-pressed almond milk. Believed to have spread across Europe through Arab trade routes, it used to be a savory dish, but by the 17th century, the pudding moved squarely into the dessert category with the addition of sugar, gelatin, and sometimes cream.
While French chefs preserved the pudding’s delicate texture and almond-rich essence by using a combination of sweet and bitter almonds, in England the pudding devolved. Corn flour replaced gelatin as the thickening agent, artificial flavoring substituted for extract of bitter almond, and food companies started selling blancmange in instant-mix packets that were notoriously bad, making it a food Britons loved to hate.
Hoping to emulate the elegant loveliness that once popularized blancmange, I turned to the first American edition of Larousse Gastronomique, which was a chef named Prosper Montagné’s encyclopedia of French cookery. There I found famed 19th century chef Antonin Carême’s recipe for blancmanger, slightly adapted here to allow usage of a food processor, almond extract, and gelatin powder. I used gelatin powder rather than the fish bladder gelatin called isinglass, used in Carême’s time (!) And almond extract instead of the bitter almonds Carême specified because while bitter almonds are rendered non-toxic when cooked, it’s illegal to sell them for home-cook usage here.
You can make this classic blancmange two ways: with or without cream. Both are very good. To make the pudding, you’ll boil a pound of raw almonds with skins on. Shocked in cold water, the almond skins will easily slip off as you pinch them, leaving you with a pretty pile of blanched almonds. Discard the skins and grind the blanched almonds in a food processor, slowly adding water to make a slurry. Pour the slurry into a clean, fine-weave cloth and twist to extract the creamy, fresh almond milk. Boiling the milk with sugar, softened gelatin and cream (if using) you’ll then cool the mixture slightly, stir in almond extract and a little vanilla paste, pour into molds or small serving cups and chill until firm.
To release puddings from molds, dip the molds for a few scant seconds in hot water and invert each over serving plates. If a pudding needs a little encouragement to release, use your plastic-gloved fingers to gently coax it away from the inside edge of the mold as you invert it.
Because red berries go very well with blancmange, I’ve included a red raspberry sauce. Spoon it over the puddings, or, serve it alongside, with extra fresh berries over all.
Classic Blancmange with Raspberry Sauce
Ingredients
- FOR THE BLANCMANGE:
- 1 lb. (3 cups) raw almonds, skins-on
- 3 cups whipping cream (OR for the dairy-free version, omit cream)
- ¾ cup sugar (OR 2/3 cup for dairy-free version)
- 2, 2 ½ tsp envelopes Knox unflavored gelatin (OR for dairy-free version, use only 1 envelope)
- 1 tsp. vanilla paste
- 1 tsp. almond extract (OR ½ tsp if making dairy-free version)
- Vegetable oil or spray to lightly coat pudding molds
- FOR THE RASPBERRY SAUCE:
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 pints fresh raspberries (remove ½ cup of them to use for garnish)
- 3 Tbsp raspberry liqueur
Instructions
- PREPARE ALMONDS: In a medium pot over medium-high heat, cover almonds with 5 cups water. Heat to boiling and boil for three minutes. Remove from heat. Pour almonds into colander placed in sink to drain. Fill a bowl with cool water and soak boiled almonds for five minutes. Rub almonds together, or, pinch each almond to slip skins off. Discard skins. Strain water off blanched (now skinless) almonds. Place blanched almonds in a food processor and pulse to chop. Add 1 cup of water and pulse again. Add second cup of water and pulse again until water and almonds are finely ground into a slurry. Place a finely-woven clean cloth over a bowl; pour almond slurry into the cloth. Gather the ends of the cloth up to make a bundle. Twist tightly and squeeze the bundle to extract all of the milk. Open the cloth and place the ground almonds back in the bowl of the food processor. Add 1 cup of water and pulse. Repeat the extraction once again, placing the cloth over the bowl, pouring the slurry over, gathering cloth into a bundle and squeezing to extract the milk. You will now have 3 cups of fresh almond milk.
- MAKE BLANCMANGE: For the version including the cream: Soften the two packets of gelatin in two tablespoons of warm water. Pour almond milk into a pot set over medium heat. Add sugar, softened gelatin and cream. Stir until mixture boils. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Stir in vanilla paste and almond extract. You will have about 6 cups of liquid pudding.
- OR If making dairy-free version: Soften 1 packet gelatin in 1 Tbsp warm water. Pour almond milk into a pot set over medium heat and add sugar and softened gelatin. Stir until boiling. Remove from heat and once room temperature, stir in vanilla paste and almond extract. You will have about 3 cups of liquid pudding.
- POUR INTO CUPS OR MOLDS: Using your finger, lightly grease the insides of your choice of small molds or serving cups and/or decorative molds, Pour liquid into each. Refrigerate until set. (I let them chill overnight.)
- MAKE RASPBERRY SAUCE: In a small pot over medium heat, make a simple syrup by whisking sugar with 1/3 cup water. Heat to boiling, whisking until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool. Puree syrup with raspberries and liqueur. Pour puree through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing with the back of a spoon. Discard raspberry seeds.
- ASSEMBLE DESSERT: If serving blancmange puddings in cups, pour a little raspberry sauce into each cup and top with fresh raspberry. If unmolding from forms: Dip each form into hot water for a few scant seconds. Invert each over serving plate to release pudding. Add a few fresh raspberries and pool a little sauce on each plate, or, serve sauce at table.
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