Blancmange

History

Blancmange is a name with a long culinary history. The dish "originated at some time during the Middle Ages from the older Middle Eastern muhallebi," and in its medieval form "usually consisted of capon or chicken, milk or almond milk, rice, and sugar" — a savoury preparation, with "almond milk and fish... used as substitutes for the other animal products on fast days and Lent". Over time it lost its meat: "In the 17th century, the whitedish evolved into a meatless dessert pudding with cream and eggs, and later, gelatin," and "in the 19th century, arrowroot and cornflour were added, and the dish evolved into the modern blancmange".

The blancmange in Hildagonda Duckitt's "Hilda's 'Where Is It?' of Recipes" (Chapman and Hall, London, 1891) — a Cape Colonial cookbook gathering "many old Cape, Indian and Malay dishes and preserves" — belongs to this later, sweet dessert tradition rather than the medieval savoury one. It is made from gelatine, milk or cream, egg yolks, lemon juice and sugar, and the method directs the cook to "Soak the gelatine in a cup of milk. Boil the rest of the milk; stir in the yolks carefully - the gelatine, lemon, sugar. Whisk the whites; stir into the mixture after it has boiled once. Remove from the fire; put into a buttered mould. Make over-night. Enough for four or five." In other words, it is an egg-enriched, lemon-flavoured milk jelly set overnight in a mould — exactly the gelatine-set dessert form the dish had taken by the late nineteenth century.

The book prints no contributor attribution for this particular recipe. Beyond this, the historical record I was able to source documents nothing specific about who ate this dish, its social standing, or a distinct geographic lineage for it, so no such claims are made here.

Ingredients

• 1 oz Gelatine
• 3 Lemons
• 1 breakfast-cup Milk or Cream
• 3 good tablespoonfuls Sugar
• 3 yolks Eggs
• 3 cups Milk
• 3 whites Eggs

Instructions

1. Soak the gelatine in a cup of milk.
2. Boil the remaining three cups of milk.
3. Stir in the egg yolks carefully, then the gelatine, lemon juice, and sugar.
4. Whisk the egg whites.
5. Stir the whisked egg whites into the mixture after it has boiled once.
6. Remove from the fire and pour into a buttered mould.
7. Set overnight.