Name: Orange Charlotte
Ingredients: one cup of sugar; one cupful of orange juice; a cupful of cold water; a cupful of boiling water; one lemon; four eggs; four beaten whites of eggs

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Orange Charlotte

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

Soak the gelatine in the cold water for one hour.
Pour the boiling water over the lemon and orange juice, cover it and let stand for half an hour.
Add the sugar, let the mixture come to a boil, stir in the gelatine until it is thoroughly dissolved, then remove from the heat.

Finish and set

When cool enough, beat the four beaten egg whites into the mixture.
Turn the mixture into the mold and set it in a cold place to stiffen, first placing pieces of sponge cake all around the mold.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

201Calories

8 gProtein

6 gFat

32 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Egg whites: Beaten whites trap air, giving the set dessert a light, airy texture.
Gelatine (in the method): Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and balances the sharpness of the citrus juices.
Orange juice: Supplies the main flavour and liquid, with some natural acidity.
Lemon: Adds sharp acidity and fresh citrus aroma to the mixture.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites in when the mixture is cool enough. If the mixture is still hot, it can cook or deflate the beaten whites, losing their air and light texture. If it has already begun to set, the whites will not blend in evenly.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, egg):

Orangethe original
Vanillafits about as well
Limefits less well
Raisinfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, egg. 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.

Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes

Lemon Cake228 recipes

Lemon Ice147 recipes

Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes

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Orange Charlotte