Blanc Manger Coco Dessert

[Eliz Cisneroz]

Blancmanger coco recipes across the Web are highly variable with people sometimes including egg whites and mixing different types and quantities of coconut and dairy condensed milk. In my recipe, however, I discarded the egg whites and used almond milk instead of dairy, condensed milk so that the blanc-manger coco is egg free, gluten free and lactose free and still (apparently) has the same great taste as the real thing! As far as coconut milk is concerned, you can either make it yourself by pressing/squeezing grated coconut or go the easy way (like I did) by taking it from a can. The cherry on the cake is the mango coulis to be enjoyed with the coconut-flavoured dessert. Enjoy!

If the blanc-manger coco is one of Martinique's desserts par excellence today, its origin goes back to the beginning of the Middle Ages in the region of Persia. It would then have been introduced into Europe by Arab merchants. At the time, blanc-manger was a savory dish! It was around the 17th century that Europeans would have made it evolve into a sweet dish. This is how he would be brought by the French to Martinique at an unknown time.

Blancmange (/bləˈmɒnʒ/,[1] from French: blanc-manger [blɑ̃mɑ̃ʒe]) 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.

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.[citation needed]

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 Harpestrng, 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.

il est plein d'une liqueur blanche, paisse & sucre : elle est entierement semblable au blanc-mang , 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-mang, 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.

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]

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]

Le blanc-manger[1] est une sorte de gele base d'amandes, dj confectionne au Moyen ge, devenu l'poque moderne un entremets sucr, traditionnellement base de lait, d'amandes ou de riz (qui joue le rle d'paississant, remplac par ou additionn de fcule de pomme de terre ou de mas) voire d'ingrdients exotiques (coco), qui est bouilli et donne une sorte de pudding ou de flan caractris par sa blancheur ivoire. Il se distingue de la panna cotta et du fromage bavarois d'Antonin Carme faits base de crme et de glatine. Dans la pratique, il est frquent que les deux terminologies soient confondues et beaucoup de recettes empruntent l'un et l'autre de ces entremets.

Les Romains en avaient une notion culinaire. Mais c'est probablement l'introduction par les Perses avant le dbut du Moyen ge, du riz et des amandes, qui donne la recette de blanc-manger la plus proche de la ntre. Pierre Leclerc, relve avec la mamuniyya (le blanc-manger syrien) que ce plat associe mixture de viande de poulet, farine de riz, lait d'amandes voire pistaches. C'est un trait syrien du XIIIe sicle, le kitab al-wusla, qui en donne la recette (bouillie de viande pile, paissie de farine de riz au lait, accompagne d'amandes broyes ou de lait d'amandes).A la mme poque plusieurs sources dsignent des mets similaires au blanc-manger avec des recettes trs proches en Europe, tel le hwit moos danois au XIIIe sicle, le blanc desirree anglo-normand et le calijs nerlandais. La plus ancienne recette trouve jusqu' ce jour provient d'une copie d'une traduction danoise d'une recette de l'allemand datant, au plus tard, du XIIIe sicle, laquelle tant base sur des manuscrits en langue romane ou en latin datant du XIIe sicle ou d'une priode antrieure[2]. Le nom de blanc-manger apparat pour la premire fois sous l'orthographe franaise blanmansier dans un livre de recette allemand de 1350, Das Buoch von guoter Spise.

Dans un manuscrit anglo-normand du XIVe sicle, on trouve une recette similaire sous le nom de maumenee (qui renvoie donc au mamuniyya) et dans le Libro de arte coquinaria (1450) de Maestro Martino sous celui de mamonia aux cts du cibus albus ou blanc mangier, dont il ne diffre gure[3]. Au XIVe sicle, Taillevent en donne des recettes sales au poisson ou la viande de veau ou de volaille[4]. On trouve le terme latin quivalent Cibarium album au XVe sicle sous la plume de Platine De Crmone, qui prsente plusieurs recettes de plats de nourriture blanche en complment de son dition du livre d'Apicius, De re coquinaria. Dans L'Ouverture de cuisine (1604), Lancelot de Casteau donne deux recettes de blanc-manger, l'une avec des amandes et l'autre sans[5].

Guillaume Tirel dit Taillevent (cuisinier franais de la fin du XIVe sicle) serait l'auteur du Viandier, livre lui-mme issu du manuscrit de Sion, dat de la seconde moiti du XIIIe sicle. Sa recette est un accompagnement, sous forme de bouillie glifie, des viandes blanches et sera color en deux couleurs (blanc et vert) voire trois (bleu) ou quatre.

Prenez amandes echaudes et peles, et les broyer trs bien, et les deffaictes d'eau boullie; puis, pour faire la lieure pour les lier, faut avoir du riz batu ou de l'amidon. Et quand son lait aura boulie, le fault partir en plusieurs parties, en deux potz, qui ne veult faire que de deux couleurs, et, qui le veult, faire en trois ou quatre parties; et convient qu'il soit fort li autant que seront froumente, tant qu'il ne se puisse reprendre quant il sera dreci ou plat ou en l'escuelle; puis prenez orcanet[7], ou tornesot, ou asur fin, ou persil, ou salmonde[8], ou ung petit de saffren coul avec la verdure, affin qu'il tienge mieux sa couleur quant il sera boullu ; et convient avoir du sang de porc et mettre tremper dedans l'orcanet ou tournesot, et l'azur pareillement. Et jetez du sucre dedans le lait quand il bouira, pour tirer arrire, et le salez, et remuez fort, tant qu'il soit renforcy et est prins sa couleur telle que lui voudrez donner.

3a8082e126