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Dessert

Inexpensive Charlotte

A chilled gelatin dessert with cherries, milk, sugar, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Inexpensive Charlotte

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatin

  1. Soak gelatin in cold water for 30 minutes.

  2. Heat the gelatin mixture on the stove until fully dissolved, then let it cool.

Make and set the charlotte

  1. In a bowl, beat the milk and cream separately.

  2. Add the milk, sugar, dissolved gelatin, and vanilla to the cream and mix well.

  3. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

  4. Add the cherries and let the mixture stand until it congeals, stirring occasionally to prevent the cherries from settling.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vanilla + gelatintop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together924 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Gelatin
Sets the mixture into a firm, sliceable body as it cools.
Egg whites
Whipped to foam, they add lightness and an airy, delicate texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the cherries.
Milk
Supplies creamy richness and moisture to the set dessert.
Cherries
Provide the main fruit flavor and visible pieces throughout the set dessert.

The step that matters

Fully dissolving the gelatin. Gelatin must dissolve completely before it is mixed in, because undissolved granules leave gritty spots and can prevent an even set. Letting it cool slightly before combining keeps it from seizing into strands or deflating the whipped egg whites.

“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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