Name: Charlotte
Ingredients: slices of bread; marmalade; quince or apricot jam; preserved cherries; butter; sugar; clear red jelly

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Charlotte

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Line a mold with slices of bread, ensuring they fit tightly together.
Fill the mold with marmalade, adding jam or preserved cherries if needed.
Drain excess butter from the Charlotte before removing it from the mold.
Sift sugar over the Charlotte or cover it with clear red jelly before serving.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + quincetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together36 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Quince + buttertop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together218 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,444 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).