Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Charlotte Russe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cream and custard
Whip the cream to stiff peaks and drain it on a fine sieve.
In a bowl, combine the milk and eggs, beat until very light, then sweeten and flavor with vanilla.
Cook the mixture over hot water until it thickens into a custard.
Add the gelatine
Soak the gelatine in a small amount of water, then warm it over hot water until dissolved.
Once the custard is cold, gently fold in the gelatine and whipped cream.
Line and set the mold
Line the bottom of a mold with buttered paper and the sides with sponge cake or lady-fingers, securing them with egg white.
Fill the mold with the cream mixture and chill in a cold place or on ice.
To unmold, briefly dip the mold in hot water.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Heavy cream
- Whipped to stiff peaks, it gives the dessert its light, airy body.
- Eggs
- Thicken the milk mixture into a custard and add richness and structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that is set with the eggs.
- Coxe's gelatine
- Sets the cream filling so it holds its shape when chilled and unmolded.
- Sponge cake or lady-fingers
- Form the edible lining that gives the mold its outer shape and soft texture.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard over hot water. Eggs thicken gently with indirect heat; if they get too hot they scramble and turn grainy, ruining the smooth filling. Cool the custard fully before folding in the gelatine and cream so the whipped cream does not deflate.
“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.
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