Name: Coffee Charlotte Russe
Ingredients: 34 g (2 tablespoons) gelatin; ½ cup clear coffee; ½ cup milk; ½ cup sugar; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons powdered sugar; 3 cups cream; Lady fingers

Why it works: Gelatin and cream 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 ↓

Coffee Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Soak gelatin in cold milk and dissolve it over hot water, adding ⅓ cup sugar.
Beat egg yolks, then add powdered sugar, salt, scalded milk, and coffee.
Strain the mixture and set it in ice water, stirring until it thickens.
Fold in the whipped cream.
Turn the mixture into a mold lined with lady fingers.

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.

Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,628 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,778 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,202 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,339 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).