Why it works: Sherry and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Charlotte Russe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mold
Decorate the bottom of a plain tin mold with glace cherries.
Split the savoy biscuits and trim the edges if necessary, then line the sides of the mold with them.
Make and set the cream
Dissolve the gelatine in the water, then add the sugar, sherry, and brandy.
Whisk the cream until stiff, then add the gelatine mixture when it is cool but not cold.
Pour the mixture into the mold and allow it to set.
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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Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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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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Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,635 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Biscuit + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,874 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream
- Whisked until stiff, it forms the light, airy body of the dessert.
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid mixture so the charlotte holds its shape when unmolded.
- Savoy biscuits
- Form the structural lining around the sides of the mold.
- Caster sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and balances the alcohol flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the gelatine mixture to the cream. If the gelatine is still warm, it can melt the whipped cream and collapse its air bubbles; if it is cold, it sets in lumps and the mixture won't blend evenly. Cool but still liquid gelatine folds in smoothly and keeps the cream light and set.
“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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