Name: Charlotte
Ingredients: ½ cup raw pineapple, grated; ⅓ cup syrup (30 degrees); ⅘ cup clarified gelatin; ⅗ cup orange juice; ⅗ cup apricot marmalade; 1 bottle champagne; candied pineapple, diced

Why it works: Pineapple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 377 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Charlotte

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

Mix grated raw pineapple, syrup, clarified gelatin, orange juice, apricot marmalade, and champagne.

Assemble and serve

Layer the mixture into the charlotte, sprinkling each layer with diced candied pineapple.
Seal the opening of the charlotte with the reserved pastry lid.
Serve immediately on a cold plate.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Pineapple + apricottop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together377 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Syrup + gelatintop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together192 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pineapple + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,664 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Pineapple + champagnetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together97 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Orange + apricottop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together703 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Clarified gelatin: Sets the liquid mixture so the charlotte holds its shape when served.
Raw pineapple: Adds fresh pineapple flavour and tartness to the filling.
Apricot marmalade: Adds sweetness and fruit body to the filling.
Orange juice: Adds acidity and citrus aroma to the filling.
Champagne: Adds liquid and a light, aromatic sparkle to the filling.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pineapple, syrup, gelatin, apricot, champagne):

Strawberryfits better
Vanillafits better
Peachfits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pineapple, syrup, gelatin, apricot, champagne. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.