Why it works: Apple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓
Charlotte- Aux-pommes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the case
Cut a slice of bread to fit the bottom of a well-buttered round mold.
Cut a few strips of bread the height of the mold and about 1½ inches wide.
Dip the bread in clarified butter or spread with cold butter.
Place the round piece at the bottom of the mold and set the strips up the sides, overlapping slightly.
Brush the interior with egg white to firm the case.
Fill and bake
Fill the mold with apple marmalade mixed with a little sherry.
Cover with another round piece of bread brushed with egg, pressing down slightly.
Place a plate on top and bake in a brisk oven at 400 °F (200 °C) until light brown.
Serve
Turn out onto a dish, sprinkle with sifted sugar, and pour melted apricot jam around it.
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.
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Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together777 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Apple + sherrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together395 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Sherry + apricottop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together173 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Stale bread
- Forms the structural case that holds the filling and crisps as it bakes.
- Clarified butter
- Fat that coats the bread, helping it brown and turn crisp in the oven.
- Apples
- Supply the soft, moist filling that gives the charlotte its body.
- Sherry
- Adds aroma and a warm, slightly acidic flavour to the apple filling.
- Egg
- Egg white brushed on the bread helps seal and firm the case.
The step that matters
Pressing the bread case and brushing it with egg. The bread must be fully buttered and sealed with egg white so it holds its shape and browns evenly rather than soaking up the moist apple filling and collapsing.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, apple, sherry, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits about as well
- Apricotthe original
- Pearfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, apple, sherry, egg, sugar. 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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