Name: Charlotte-Russe
Ingredients: stale sponge cake; 1½ pints heavy cream (or 1 pint cream and ½ pint milk); ⅔ cup powdered sugar; gelatin (amount not specified); flavoring (peach or pineapple)

Why it works: Cream and gelatin 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

stale sponge cake
1½ pints heavy cream (or 1 pint cream and ½ pint milk)
⅔ cup powdered sugar
gelatin (amount not specified)
flavoring (peach or pineapple)

Directions

Cut stale sponge cake into slices about ½ inch thick and line three molds with them, leaving ½ inch space between each slice.
Fill a deep tin pan one-third full of snow or pounded ice, and set another pan that holds at least four quarts into it.
In a deep bowl or pail, whip 1½ pints of cream until frothy. If using thick cream, combine 1 pint of cream with ½ pint of milk.
Skim the froth into the pan on the ice until all the cream is whipped.
Stir in ⅔ cup of powdered sugar and the dissolved gelatin, then mold the mixture.
For flavoring, boil 12½ peaches or finely cut pineapple with sugar, strain, and add to the mixture before molding.

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.

Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,628 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,778 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + peachtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Gelatin + peachtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together63 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).