Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Charlotte Russe
Ingredients
Directions
Line the mould
Butter a mould and line the inside with Savoy biscuits, moistening the edges with beaten egg white.
Arrange the biscuits upright around the sides, overlapping slightly to prevent cream from escaping.
At the bottom, arrange biscuits in a star or rosette pattern, ensuring it is well covered, then dry in the oven.
Make and fill
Whisk the cream with Vanderhum, dissolved isinglass, and loaf sugar to taste until firm.
Fill the inside of the Charlotte Russe with the cream mixture and cover with a slice of sponge cake.
Chill and decorate
Chill in a cool place or on ice, then cover with cream and decorate with chocolates, sprinkles, or crystallized cherries.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Biscuit + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,235 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Biscuit + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,874 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Savoy biscuits
- Form the structural shell that holds the cream filling in shape.
- Cream
- Provides the rich, light body of the filling, which whisks up and sets firm.
- Isinglass
- Gelatine-like setting agent that firms the whisked cream so it holds its shape.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the cream filling and balances its richness.
- Vanderhum
- Adds flavour to the cream filling as a liqueur-style flavouring.
The step that matters
Whisking the cream with isinglass until firm. Isinglass must be fully dissolved before it is added, and the cream should be whisked just until firm. Under-whisked cream stays loose and will not hold its shape, while over-whisking can turn it grainy and cause it to split.
“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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