Vintage Recipe Project: Vanilla Bean Blanc Mange or a Custard Mouse

Vintage Recipe Project:

Vanilla Bean Blanc Mange or Custard Mouse

This recipe was adapted from The Lily Wallace New American Cook Book Circa 1946

Recipe #2442 page-523

With my recent purchase of vanilla beans I knew I would have some beans left over from making my homemade vanilla extract. The extract is steeping so I picked up my vintage cook books looking for a recipe for my latest installment of the Vintage Recipe Project.

Words and terms the  modern day cook and baker has never seen can be entertaining to say the least. I was looking for a recipe to use my vanilla beans in and of course a custard came to mind. I found the recipe for Vanilla Blanc Mange in the Lily Wallace book. It called for vanilla extract but I used a bean instead.


What is Blanc Mange I asked myself.

Even though I don’t speak any other languages I knew that blanc meant white in Spanish. But I didn’t think this was a Spanish recipe. I assumed it was French but when I plug it into a translator it came back as Swedish. I tried translating it into English but there is not translation. I then tried French and all though there is a French Blanc Mange it is spelled as one word not two like it is written in the cook book. I’ll just have to assume this is a Swedish recipe. If you know other wise please drop me a comment and let me know!

I loved the way this recipe turned out. It has the creaminess of a custard but a light airiness like a mousse.

I hope you enjoy!

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbs cornstarch

3 tbs flour

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups scalded milk

2 beaten egg yolks

1  vanilla bean

2 egg whites, stiffly beaten

•  Pour the milk into a medium size pan and warm slowly over medium low heat.
• Cut the vanilla bean in half and scrap the vanilla bean seeds into the milk and add the beans to the pot.

• Allow the milk and the vanilla bean to simmer while preparing the rest of the ingredients until you see bubbles forming around the edge of the pot.
• Occasionally stir with a whisk to allow more of the vanilla seeds to come loose from the bean pod and to keep the milk from burning on the bottom of the pan.
•  Measure and mix the sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt into a small bowl. Whisk well to mix.
• Separate the egg yolks and whites.
• Place the yolks into a small bowl and beat with a fork.
• Place the whites into a medium bowl, beat with a hand mixer until stiff and set aside.
• Pour the milk and vanilla bean into a metal bowl.
• Cook the custard using a double boiler by pouring the milk and vanilla bean into a metal bowl. Place the metal bowl so it nestles into a pot of lightly boiling water. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl containing the custard is not sitting directly on top of the boiling water.
•  Cook and whisk occasionally until the mixture thickens to an almost pudding like consistency, about 10 minutes.
• Place a lid on top of the bowl and allow to cook another 5 to 8 minutes whisking occasionally.
•  Remove the vanilla beans. Rinse them off and use them to make vanilla sugar by placing them into a container with one cup of sugar.
•  Temper the egg yolks into the custard mixture by adding a half a ladle full of the hot custard into the bowl of the eggs yolks while whisking. Then add another half of ladle and whisk. Pour the tempered egg yolk into the pot of hot custard and whisk until completely incorporated. You should not see any yellow from the eggs yolk.
• Cook for 5 minutes while whisking.
• Remove the bowl from the heat and place on counter.
• Fold the stiffly beaten eggs whites into the hot custard until evenly incorporated.
•  Ladle into individual ramekins. Place the filled ramekins on a cookie sheet for stability and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for at least 3 hours or over night.