Name: Charlotte Russe
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon granulated gelatin; ½ cup cold water; 2 cups cream; ¼ cup boiling water; 2 tablespoons sherry or 1 teaspoon vanilla; 1 dozen ladyfingers

Why it works: Gelatin and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Soak the gelatin in cold water for a few minutes.
Add boiling water to the soaked gelatin to dissolve it.
Whip the cream until soft peaks form.
Add sugar and flavoring to the whipped cream.
Gradually whip in the dissolved gelatin while the dish is set in a pan of ice water.
Line a mold with ladyfingers.
Pour the cream mixture into the mold once it thickens.
Chill until set.

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.

Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,628 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,038 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Gelatin + sherrytop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together138 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).