Dessert of milk or cream and sugar, thickened and flavoured
Blancmange
(
,
[1]
from
French
:
blanc-manger
[bl??m???e]
) is a sweet
dessert
popular throughout
Europe
commonly made with
milk
or
cream
and
sugar
, thickened with
rice flour
,
gelatin
,
corn starch
, or
Irish moss
[2]
(a source of
carrageenan
), and often flavoured with
almonds
.
It is usually set in a mould and served cold. Although traditionally white (the literal English translation of the name is "white eating"), blancmanges are frequently given other colours.
Blancmange originated at some time during the
Middle Ages
from the older Middle Eastern
muhallebi
,
[3]
and usually consisted of
capon
or
chicken
, milk or
almond milk
, rice, and sugar; it was considered to be an ideal food for the sick.
Similar desserts include French chef
Marie-Antoine Careme
's
Bavarian cream
,
Italian
panna cotta
,
Turkish
Tavuk go?su
,
Chinese
almond tofu
,
Hawai'ian
haupia
and
Puerto Rican
tembleque
.
History
[
edit
]
The origins of the blancmange have long been believed to lie in the introduction of rice and almonds in early medieval Europe by Arab traders.
[4]
Recently, it has been shown that there have been similar Arab dishes from that period such as muhallebi.
[5]
Muhallebi or another similar dish from the medieval
Islamic world
, spread to Europe under closely related names and variants, including
blanc-manger
in France,
biancomangiare
in Italy and
manjar blanco
in Spain. Additionally, related or similar dishes have existed in other areas of Europe under other names, such as the 13th-century Danish
hwit moos
("white mush"), and the Anglo-Norman
blanc desirree
("white Syrian dish"); Dutch
calijs
(from Latin
colare
, "to strain") was known in English as
cullis
and in French as
coulis
, and was based on cooked and then strained poultry. The oldest recipe for blancmange is from the oldest extant Danish cookbook, written by
Henrik Harpestræng
, who died in 1244, which dates it to the early 13th century at the latest. The work may be a translation of a German cookbook, which is believed to have been based on a Latin or Romance vernacular manuscript from the 12th century or even earlier.
[6]
The "whitedish" (from the original
Old French
term
blanc manger
) was a dish consumed by the upper-classes and common to most of
Europe
during the Middle Ages and early modern period. It occurs in countless variations from recipe collections from all over Europe and was one of the few truly international dishes of medieval and early modern Europe. It is mentioned in the prologue to
Geoffrey Chaucer
's
Canterbury Tales
[7]
and in an early 15th-century cookbook written by the chefs of
Richard II
.
[8]
The basic ingredients were milk or
almond milk
, sugar, and shredded
chicken
(usually
capon
) or fish, often combined with
rosewater
and rice flour, and mixed into a bland
stew
. Almond milk and fish were used as substitutes for the other animal products on
fast
days and
Lent
. It was also often flavoured with spices such as saffron or cinnamon and the chicken could be exchanged for other fowl, such as
quail
or
partridge
. Spices were often used in recipes of the later Middle Ages since they were considered prestigious.
On festive occasions and among the upper classes, whitedishes were often rendered more festive by colouring agents: the reddish-golden yellow of
saffron
; green with various
herbs
; or
sandalwood
for
russet
. In 14th-century France, parti-colouring (the use of two bright contrasting colours on the same plate) was especially popular and was described by
Guillaume Tirel
(also known as
Taillevent
), one of the primary authors of the later editions of
Le Viandier
. The brightly coloured whitedishes were one of the most common of the early
entremets
: edibles that were intended to entertain and delight through a gaudy appearance as much as through flavour.
In the 17th century (1666), the
durian
fruit was compared to blanc-mange by Alexandre de Rhodes:
il est plein d'une liqueur blanche, epaisse & sucree : elle est entierement semblable au blanc-mange , qu'on sert aux meilleures tables de France; c'est une chose fort saine, & des plus delicates qu'on puisse manger
[9]
[It is full of a white liquor, thick and sweet, which is entirely similar to
blanc-mange
, served at the best tables in France; it is a very healthy thing, and one of the most delicate things one can eat].
In the 17th century, the whitedish evolved into a meatless dessert
pudding
with cream and eggs, and later,
gelatin
. In the 19th century,
arrowroot
and
cornflour
were added, and the dish evolved into the modern blancmange.
Etymology
[
edit
]
The Catalan
menjar blanc
, a variant of blancmange made without
gelatine
and mostly typical from
Reus
and also from
l'Alguer
The word blancmange derives from Old French
blanc mangier
. The name "whitedish" is a modern term used by some historians, though the name historically was either a direct translation from or a
calque
of the Old French term. Many different local or regional terms were used for the dish in the Middle Ages:
[10]
- English:
blancmanger
,
blankmanger
,
blank maunger
,
blomanger
,
blamang
- Catalan:
menjar blanch
,
menjar blanc
,
menjablanc
- Portuguese:
manjar branco
- Italian:
mangiare bianco
,
biancomangiare
,
blanmangieri
,
bramangere
- Spanish:
manjar blanco
- Dutch/Flemish:
blanc mengier
- German:
Blamensir
- Latin:
cibarium album
[11]
Though it is fairly certain that the etymology is indeed "white dish", medieval sources are not always consistent as to the actual colour of the dish. Food scholar Terence Scully has proposed the alternative etymology of
bland mangier
, "bland dish", reflecting its often mild and "dainty" (in this context meaning refined and aristocratic) taste and popularity as a dish for the sick.
[10]
See also
[
edit
]
- Annin tofu
? Jellied dessert (almond tofu)
Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
- Custard
? Semi-solid cooked mixture of milk and egg
- Flummery
? Starch-based, sweet, soft dessert pudding
- Haupia
? Polynesian coconut milk pudding
- Junket
? Dessert made with sweetened milk and rennet
- Maja blanca
? Filipino pudding of coconut milk and cornstarch
- Medieval cuisine
? Foods, eating habits, and cooking methods of the Middle Ages
- Tavuk go?su
? Ottoman milk pudding
Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
- List of almond dishes
References
[
edit
]
- ^
OED
- ^
"Irish Moss Blanc-Mange. Farmer, Fannie Merritt. 1918. The Boston Cooking School Cookbook"
. Bartleby.com
. Retrieved
2012-11-13
.
- ^
Topcu, Utku Can (2021).
"Arab Origins of Tavukgo?su and Blancmange: The Overlooked History"
.
Petits Propos Culinaires
.
121
(November 2021): 45?56.
doi
:
10.1558/ppc.27812
. Retrieved
2022-05-07
.
- ^
Ossa (2007), p. 71; "The Arab origin of blanc manger is well documented." (editor's translation)
- ^
Topcu, Utku Can (2021).
"Arab Origins of Tavukgo?su and Blancmange: The Overlooked History"
.
Petits Propos Culinaires
.
121
(November 2021): 45?56.
doi
:
10.1558/ppc.27812
. Retrieved
2022-05-07
.
- ^
Hieatt, Constance B. (1995)
Food in the Middle Ages
,
"Sorting Through the Titles of Medieval Dishes: What Is, or Is Not, a 'Blanc Manger'" p. 25-43
. A nineteenth century transcription can be found in
Christian Molbech (1826),
Henrik Harpestrengs Danske Lægebog fra det trettende Aarhundrede
, Copenhagen: H.H. Thiele, p. 157.
- ^
Pro. 389.
- ^
"Richard II porpoise recipe online"
.
BBC News Online
. 2009-06-18
. Retrieved
2012-11-13
.
- ^
Rhodes, Alexandre de (1591-1660) Auteur du texte (November 11, 1666).
Divers voiages du P. Alexandre de Rhodes en la Chine et autres royaumes de l'Orient, avec son retour en Europe par la Perse et l'Armenie... 2de edition
– via gallica.bnf.fr.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
a
b
Scully, p. 208
- ^
Platina
,
De honesta voluptate et valetudine
book 6
Sources
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]