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Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A chilled custard dessert made with cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and sponge cake, thickened with isinglass.

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 ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the isinglass in cold water for 2 hours, weighted down to prevent floating.

  2. Line the molds with thin strips of sponge cake.

  3. Use egg white to stick the edges together.

Make the custard

  1. Scald the milk over boiling water.

  2. Beat the egg yolks with sugar.

  3. Pour the hot milk over the yolks.

  4. Remove the isinglass from the water and add it to the hot custard, stirring over boiling water until slightly thickened.

  5. Let the custard cool.

Whip and set

  1. Whip the cream in a deep bowl.

  2. Strain the whipped cream through a sieve.

  3. Return the drained cream to the bowl and whip as much as possible.

  4. Add any unwhipped cream to the custard.

  5. Beat the custard thoroughly with the whipped cream.

  6. Pour the mixture into the molds.

  7. Place the molds on ice.

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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Sugar and vanilla 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

Cream
Whipped to form the light, airy body of the dessert.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and enrich its flavour and colour.
Isinglass
Gelatine-like setting agent that firms the custard as it chills.
Milk
Forms the base of the custard, carrying the flavour and richness.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the cream.
Sponge cake
Lines the molds, giving a soft structure and edge to the dessert.

The step that matters

Adding the isinglass to the hot custard. Isinglass must be fully dissolved and stirred in gently over heat so it sets evenly. Overheating or uneven mixing can leave lumps or weaken the set once chilled.

“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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