BLANCMANGE′. (blo-mŏngzh′‡.) Syn. Blancmanger (blŏng-mŏng-zhā), Fr. Literally, white food; in cookery, a confected white jelly. It is commonly prepared by simmering 1 oz. of isinglass, 2 or 3 oz. of lump sugar, and a little flavouring,[203] in about a pint of milk, until the first is dissolved, when the whole is thrown into a jelly-bag, and the strained liquor is allowed to cool and solidify; it is next remelted by a gentle heat, and, when nearly cold, poured into moulds, which have been previously rubbed with a little salad oil and then wiped out again.
[203] This may be 5 or 6 bitter almonds (grated), or a little cinnamon, orange, or lemon peel, &c., at will. Sometimes these are omitted, and a little orange-flower water, rose-water, or essence of vanilla, added to the remelted jelly.
Obs. Good gelatine, or strong calves’ feet jelly, is often substituted for the isinglass. At other times the jelly is made with about 1⁄2 pint of water (instead of milk), when 1⁄2 pint of almond-milk, or of cream, is added to the remelted jelly. Sometimes ground rice or arrow-root is employed in lieu of isinglass, when the product is called RICE-BLANCMANGE, or West-Indian b., as the case may be. Transpa′′rent blancmange[204] is merely clarified isinglass-jelly, flavoured. See Cream (Stone), Isinglass, and Jelly.
[204] A misnomer of the confectioners and cooks.
BLANQUETTE′ (blang-ket’). [Fr.] In cookery, a species of white fricasee. It is also the name of a delicate species of white wine, and of a particular sort of pear.
BLAST′ING. In civil and military engineering, the disruption of rocks, &c., by the explosion of gunpowder, or other like material.
BLAST′ING POWDERS (Melville and Callow’s). Prep. 1. (Powder No. 1.) Chlorate of potassa, 2 parts; red sulphuret of arsenic, 1 part; to be separately carefully reduced to powder, and lightly mixed together, scrupulously avoiding the use of iron instruments, percussion, much friction, the slightest contact with acids, or exposure to heat.
2. (Powder No. 2.) Chlorate of potassa, 5 parts; red sulphuret of arsenic, 2 parts; ferrocyanide of potassium (prussiate of potash), 1 part; as No. 1.
3. (Powder No. 3.) Chlorate of potassa and ferrocyanide of potassium, equal parts.
Obs. These compounds are not permanently injured by either salt or fresh water, merely requiring to be dried to regain their explosive character. They possess fully eight times the force of ordinary powder. One of their advantages, especially to the underground miner, is the very trifling amount of smoke produced by their explosion. On the other hand, the extreme facility with which they explode by attrition, contact with a strong acid, and a slight elevation of temperature, render them unsuited to most of the purposes of ordinary gunpowder. On this account they should only be prepared in small quantities at a time, and with the utmost caution. Mr Callow, the inventor of them, lost several of his fingers, and was rendered a cripple for life, by an explosion of the kind referred to, which occurred only a few weeks after the sealing of his patent. A straw, or small strip of wood, only slightly wetted with oil of vitriol, and applied to a small heap of the powder, produces instantaneous explosion. Captain Wynand’s ‘Saxifragine’ is composed of nitrate of baryta, 76 parts; charcoal, 22 parts; and nitre, 2 parts. Schultze’s wood-gunpowder is composed of granulated wood treated with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid, afterwards impregnated with a solution of nitre. M. Bäudish has invented a method by which this wood-gunpowder may be compressed into a solid substance, exerting great power and free from danger by transport. Lithofracteur, a white blasting powder used in Belgium, is a substance similar to gun-cotton.