French Blanc-mange

Blanc-manger français (set almond-milk pudding) teaches that refinement begins before the pan. Its whiteness isn't decoration. Skin the almonds completely and soak them until they are white through the seams, because grey almonds make a grey blanc-manger, and neither sugar nor a handsome mold can hide it.

The original formula assumed a mortar, a strong towel, muslin, center-tubed molds packed in ice, and enough hands to prepare a pound of almonds. For six portions, the batch is halved without moving its ratios: a food processor replaces the mortar, a nut-milk bag replaces the towel, and six small molds in the refrigerator replace the tube mold and its bed of ice. The ice and center tube were brigade scaffolding and can go. Skinning, soaking, fine pounding, hard wringing, and the full measures of sugar and gelatine are the dish, so they stay. Loaf sugar becomes superfine sugar, while the bitter almonds become a measured drop of food-safe almond extract because the raw kernels are neither reliably available nor prudent in a home kitchen.

The finished blanc-manger should turn out cleanly, satin-white and cool, with enough body to hold its fluting and a texture that yields under the spoon rather than bouncing against it. Before you touch the pan, settle the step that matters most: whiten every almond properly. Everything afterward depends upon it.