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Dessert

Apple Charlotte

A baked dessert of stewed apples mixed with bread crumbs, butter, eggs, wine, spices, lemon peel, and brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Apple Charlotte

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Combine stewed apples and bread crumbs in a bowl.

  3. Melt the butter and stir it into the mixture.

Mix and bake

  1. Beat the eggs and add them just before baking.

  2. Mix in the wine, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon peel, and brown sugar, then stir everything together and pour into a baking dish.

  3. Bake for a long time until set and golden.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard-like mixture into a sliceable texture as they bake.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the apple juices and give the charlotte its body.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown as it bakes.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the top caramelise to a golden colour.

The step that matters

Bake for a long time until set and golden. Eggs only set once they reach a firm temperature, so underbaking leaves the centre runny. Stop when the surface is golden and the middle no longer wobbles, since overbaking can make the eggs weep and turn rubbery.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, egg, wine, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Orangefits about as well
  3. Vanillafits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, egg, wine, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon. 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.

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