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Dessert

Delicious Charlotte Russe

A chilled custard dessert made with egg yolks, sweet milk, sugar, double cream, gelatin, vanilla, and ladyfingers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 192 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Delicious Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Soak the gelatin in ½ cup cold milk.

  2. Beat the egg yolks until very light, then add the sugar and beat well.

  3. Heat the sweet milk in a double boiler, then gradually add the sugar and yolks while stirring continuously.

  4. Stir in the soaked gelatin and cook until thick, stirring all the time.

  5. Remove from heat, strain, and whip until cool.

  6. Fold in the whipped cream and flavor with vanilla.

Line and set

  1. Line a mold with lady fingers or macaroons, then pack in ice to congeal.

  2. Serve in cups made of macaroons, using five for each cup: one for the bottom and four around, fastened together with candy syrup.

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. Gelatin + syruptop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together192 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and color as they cook.
Gelatin
Sets the custard so it holds its shape when chilled.
Double cream
Adds richness and a light, airy texture when whipped and folded in.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps the yolks blend smoothly.
Sweet milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, cooked gently with the yolks.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until thick, stirring all the time. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but if they get too hot they curdle and turn grainy. Constant stirring over gentle heat in a double boiler keeps the custard smooth.

“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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