blancmange

English

blancmange, sense 1

Alternative forms

• (historical): blanc manger, blanc-manger, blancmanger

Etymology

From Middle English blancmanger, blomanger, from Old French blanc mangier (“white food”). The pudding evolved from the chicken dish.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bləˈmɒndʒ/, /bləˈmɒnʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /bləˈmɑndʒ/, /bləˈmɑnʒ/

Noun

blancmange (countable and uncountable, plural blancmanges)

1. A simple dessert made by cooking sweetened milk with cornstarch and vanilla.
   • 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women:

     “That looks too pretty to eat,” he said, smiling with pleasure, as Jo uncovered the dish, and showed the blanc-mange

   • 2010, Kate Jennings, Trouble: Evolution of a Radical: Selected Writings 1970-2010, page 36:

     I was a snarler. I prided myself on being a snarler. I would go to great lengths to avoid stereotypical feminine behaviour. I thought that in being outrageous or out of control, which I viewed as synonymous, I was thumbing my nose at the patriarchy. My biggest fear about AA was that I would lose my edge. Turn into blancmange.

   • 2018 July 3, Daniel Taylor, “England knock Colombia out of World Cup in last-16 penalty shootout”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Yet the shootout was only part of the story against tough, obdurate opponents – “animals” according to Chris Waddle in his radio commentary – on a night when Colombia’s supporters had filled this stadium in swathes of bright yellow, bouncing and swaying like human blancmange and creating a raucous din.

2. (historical) A dish, eaten in the Middle Ages, generally consisting of chicken (or sometimes capon or fish), milk or almond milk, rice, and sugar.
   • 2011, Annette Hope, Londoners' Larder: English Cuisine from Chaucer to the Present, →ISBN:

     Chaucer's Cook made blancmange with the best of them, according to the Prologue to the Tales. There were two versions of this popular dish in Chaucer's day, one made with fish and the other with capon or chicken.

Derived terms

• blancmange curve
• blancmangey

 

Translations

dessert

• Czech: pudink (cs) m
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: blanc-manger, kermahyytelö
• French: blanc-manger (fr) m
• German: Blancmanger n, Mandelsulz f; similar is also Weinsulz f
• Italian: biancomangiare m
• Polish: blamanż m
• Spanish: manjar blanco m
• Swedish: blancmangé (sv) c

historical white meat dish

• Arabic: إِسْفِيدَبَاج m (ʔisfīdabāj) (contemporary term)
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: blanc-manger
• Spanish: manjar blanco m
• Swedish: blancmangé (sv) c

References

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Blancmange”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume I (A–B), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 900, column 3.