Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )

[Kasia]

Smile of the summer:) – apricot-peach shortcake. RecipeGullet

 

 

[oli]

Where in the USA do we find 'blancmange' or what is a substitute?

Edited September 1, 2017 by oli (log)

[Kasia]

8 minutes ago, oli said:

Where is the USA do we find 'blancmange' or what is a substitute?

 

Dear @oli blancmange in British English means pudding in American English, so I think in States you have to look for powdered vanilla pudding. I hope it is possible to buy it in the USA

[chromedome]

23 minutes ago, oli said:

Where is the USA do we find 'blancmange' or what is a substitute?

It's just a pudding thickened with cornstarch, basically. 

[JohnT]

26 minutes ago, chromedome said:

It's just a pudding thickened with cornstarch, basically. 

Well, I was always taught that it was a sweet almond gelatinised dessert, made with ground almonds/almond milk and gelatine! I will have to go through my old books and study notes to see if my memory is buggered or still reasonably okay! But then, the modern instant pudding manufactures will surely have come up with a modern version made without gelatine and using cornstarch or some other powder to thicken a mixture.

[chromedome]

From The Food Lover's Companion:

 

"A simple cooked pudding made of milk, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla. Gelatin may be substituted for the cornstarch. The hot mixture is poured into a mold, chilled, unmolded and served with a sweet sauce or fresh fruit. The original blancmange used pulverized almonds in lieu of cornstarch." 

 

IIRC the ancestral almond-based version was often savory, but that goes back centuries. 

[Anna N]

Neither science nor citation here but I ate a lot of blancmange in my time and it surely was not the same as vanilla pudding. Carry on. 

 

Edited to add a citation 

 

See. Mrs. Beeton knew.   And you thought I was just a young pup. 

Edited September 1, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[oli]

44 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Neither science nor citation here but I ate a lot of blancmange in my time and it surely was not the same as vanilla pudding. Carry on. 

 

Edited to add a citation 

 

See. Mrs. Beeton knew.   And you thought I was just a young pup. 

Interesting, my mom never bought blancmange as far as I know when we lived in BC.  I would like to know of a name of a product that I can substitute, if it is not the same as vanilla pudding.

Edited September 1, 2017 by oli (log)

[barolo]

15 minutes ago, oli said:

Interesting, my mom never bought blancmange as far as I know when we lived in BC.  I would like to know of a name of a product that I can substitute, if it is not the same as vanilla pudding.

 

Based on what @Kasia, who posted the recipe, said, this looks look like it would do the trick:  https://www.amazon.ca/Pearce-Duffs-Assorted-Blancmange-146g/dp/B0051C0Q92

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by barolo
Never mind, deleted it,. (log)

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, barolo said:

Based on what @Kasia, who posted the recipe, said, this looks look like it would do the trick:  https://www.amazon.ca/Pearce-Duffs-Assorted-Blancmange-146g/dp/B0051C0Q92

Indeed but at $20 per ($9.99 + $9.99 shipping)  that is an expensive proposition!

 

Edited to add:

 

 In 2008 according to this, a package of  powder cost 64P in the UK. 

Edited September 1, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[Kasia]

We call it in Poland Budyń Waniliowy and it is so common product that in the worst nightmare I have not imagined that it may be any problem to buy it in States. Locally it costs less than 0,5 USD

[heidih]

from a European perspective see link to Dr Oetker https://www.google.com/search?q=dr+oetker+blancmange&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS755US755&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwif1rfjhoXWAhVT6Z8KHYn5CXQQsAQINA&biw=696&bih=378

[oli]

45 minutes ago, heidih said:

from a European perspective see link to Dr Oetker https://www.google.com/search?q=dr+oetker+blancmange&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS755US755&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwif1rfjhoXWAhVT6Z8KHYn5CXQQsAQINA&biw=696&bih=378

 

So, which Oetker would you purchase as a substitute for this recipe?

[heidih]

the garden variety vanilla- a staple in my Austrian recipes from way back

[Thanks for the Crepes]

5 hours ago, oli said:

 

So, which Oetker would you purchase as a substitute for this recipe?

 

Erm, if I wanted to go with this recipe, I'd just use Jello brand pudding mix (for me the sugar free) and make it to the pie filling directions, which uses less milk and sets up firmer. I actually like this better than my own homemade, because I'm not a fan of the skin that forms on homemade puddings. To some that is the best part, but not for me.

 

I use Jello pudding to make Southern style banana pudding. They make a banana flavor, which I have tried, but it tastes artificial, and the real bananas with the regular vanilla one bring plenty of natural fragrance and flavor to the party. I like to let it chill for about twenty four hours to let the 'Nilla wafers (generic at half the cost for me) soften and the banana flavor permeate everything. Jello chocolate pudding sets up into a pie that can be sliced and served neatly for chocolate pie too when made with the reduced milk pie filling formula.

 

Like @Kasia, I think this substitution would work just fine. It won't be blancmange, but it will work.

 

If anyone's interested, I'd be willing to transcribe a pretty interesting history of blancmange from my old "Joy of Cooking" about how it morphed from capon breast, almonds, cornstarch, breadcrumbs into vanilla pudding, still going by the same name. At one point some years back the name was dropped completely in this country, and only older folks have even heard of it.

 

I really think this will work fine @oli. Good luck with it.

[JohnT]

Okay, I found my study notes and the method using ground almonds is quite complicated and appears outdated. However, I found in "Nell Heaton's Cooking Dictionary", which contains no publishing date or copyright but has my mothers note that she was given the book in what appears to be 1948, the following two recipes for "Blancmange":

[shain]

Crunchy cornmeal cookies with a thin coating of peanut butter.

[kayb]

On 9/1/2017 at 0:35 AM, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Another story that convinces me I do not ever need a mandoline. 

I love mine. But I'm scared to death of it. I use it with the handguard and while wearing a silicone oven glove. This after slicing a layer off the underside of my ring finger.

 

[chromedome]

Despite my misadventure I still use them regularly. Sure, they can be dangerous but I've also cut myself with knives (and countertops and piping tips...what can I say, I'm talented) and have burnt myself on any number of things. Cooking customarily involves heat and sharp edges, so the odd bit of ancillary damage to the cook is all but inescapable. 

[keychris]

I've lost count of the number of times I've sliced into fingernails... If I didn't have them my fingers would be significantly shorter

[MelissaH]

I won't use  my mandoline without wearing a metal mesh glove topped with a rubber glove. I like counting in decimal!

[lindag]

I have actually managed to cut myself (and created a major bone bruise) on my knuckle while wearing a no-cut glove.

I now am even more careful when cutting hard veg like sweet potato, rutabaga and beet.

[pastrygirl]

On 9/1/2017 at 9:37 AM, oli said:

Where in the USA do we find 'blancmange' or what is a substitute?

 

 

Maybe something like Birds Custard Powder?  A U.K. product, but I know I've seen it in the U.S. 

[Anna N]

7 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

 

Maybe something like Birds Custard Powder?  A U.K. product, but I know I've seen it in the U.S. 

I'm sure it would work but it would be a very different flavour profile. 

[Shelby]

Peaches and cream pie with homemade vanilla ice cream