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 Au Chocolat a LA Hollandaise
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mold
Coat the bottom of a charlotte mold with a thin layer of jelly and let it set.
Decorate with cherries and angelica, then sprinkle a few drops of jelly to set the decoration.
Add another layer of jelly.
Place on ice.
Make the chocolate cream
Chop the chocolate and melt it in a saucepan with enough milk to cover it.
Let it boil.
Add the remaining milk and sugar and stir until it boils.
Transfer the mixture to a basin and let it cool.
Melt the gelatine in a little water and strain it into the mixture.
Flavor with vanilla to taste.
Whip the cream slightly and stir it into the preparation.
Assemble and serve
Trim the savoy biscuits and place them around the mold, fitting them closely together.
When the cream is half set, pour it into the prepared mold.
Place in a cool area until firm.
Dip the bottom of the mold in warm water to loosen the jelly.
Turn it out onto a glass dish.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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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Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (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
- Chocolate
- Provides the main flavor and rich body of the cream.
- Gelatine
- Sets the milk and cream mixture so it holds its shape when turned out.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a light, airy texture when whipped lightly into the set base.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the chocolate cream and balances its bitterness.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the chocolate cream.
- Wine jelly
- Forms a set layer that lines the mold and holds the decoration in place.
The step that matters
Pouring the cream at half set. If the gelatine cream is too liquid it will leak into the jelly layers and blur the decoration; if it is too firm it will not settle smoothly against the biscuits. Gelatine sets as it cools, so timing the pour at half set keeps the layers distinct and the surface even.
“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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