Why it works: Butter and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,706 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
An Apple Charlotte, or Charlotte De Pommes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Butter a round or square cake tin and line it with thin slices of stale bread, cut to fit perfectly and dipped in clarified butter.
Fill the mould to the brim with apple marmalade.
Cover the top with slices of bread dipped in butter.
Place a dish, large plate, or the cover of a French stewpan on top with a weight.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 45 minutes if small, or 1 hour if large.
Carefully turn it out and serve hot.
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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Butter + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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