Why it works: Apple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓
Charlotte-aux-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.
Prepare the case
Cut a slice of bread to fit the bottom of a well-buttered round mold.
Cut a few strips of bread the height of the mold and about 1½ inches wide.
Dip the bread in clarified butter or spread with cold butter.
Place the round piece at the bottom of the mold and arrange the strips up the sides, overlapping slightly.
Brush the interior with egg white to firm the case.
Fill and bake
Fill with apple marmalade mixed with a little sherry.
Cover with a round piece of bread brushed with egg, pressing down slightly.
Place a plate on top and bake in a brisk oven at 400 °F (200 °C) for 40 to 50 minutes.
Serve
Turn out onto a dish, sprinkle with sifted sugar, and pour melted apricot jam around it.
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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Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together777 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Apple + sherrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together395 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Sherry + apricottop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together173 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Stale bread
- Forms the crisp, sturdy shell that holds the filling in its shape.
- Clarified butter
- Coats the bread so it fries and browns evenly, adding richness and a golden crust.
- Apple marmalade
- Supplies the soft, sweet-tart apple filling that sets the charlotte's body.
- Sherry
- Adds aromatic depth and a hint of acidity to the apple filling.
- Egg
- Brushed on the bread to help the shell firm and brown during baking.
The step that matters
Dipping and lining the bread case. Bread must be fully coated in butter and fitted snugly, with no gaps. Butter fries the surface to a crisp golden shell, and gaps let the soft filling leak out or the case collapse when turned out.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, apple, sherry, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits about as well
- Apricotthe original
- Pearfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, apple, sherry, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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