Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Charlotte Russe
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
In a saucepan, heat the milk with the egg yolks and sugar until thick, stirring to prevent curdling.
Once cool, season the mixture to taste.
Prepare the gelatine
Soak the gelatine in cold water for about 20 minutes.
Pour the boiling water over the soaked gelatine and heat until fully melted.
When the gelatine mixture is warm, stir it into the custard.
Fold in the cream
As soon as it begins to thicken, quickly fold in the whipped cream without beating.
Stir well from the bottom and sides to avoid lumps.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a rich custard and add richness and structure.
- Gelatine
- Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when chilled.
- Rich cream
- Adds richness and a light, airy texture when folded in whipped.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that the yolks thicken.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the cream.
The step that matters
Fold in the cream as the custard just begins to thicken. Whipped cream holds its air only if it is folded gently rather than beaten. If the gelatine sets too far before folding, the mixture becomes lumpy and cannot blend evenly, so the cream should go in promptly and the mixture should be stirred from the bottom and sides.
“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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