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Dessert

Plain Charlotte Russe. No. 1

A custard dessert with a sponge cake base and meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Plain Charlotte Russe. No. 1

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard

  1. Wet a saucepan with cold water to prevent burning, then pour out the water.

  2. Add 1 quart of milk, boil, and let it cool slightly.

  3. Beat the yolks of 6 eggs with 3 ounces of sugar and ¼ teaspoon of salt; mix thoroughly.

  4. Add the lukewarm milk to the egg mixture, stir, and pour into a double boiler.

  5. Stir over heat until the mixture thickens to the consistency of cream; do not boil.

  6. Strain the custard and let it cool slightly before adding 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Assemble and finish

  1. Line a glass dish with slices of white sponge cake, then pour the custard over it.

  2. For meringue, beat the whites of 4 eggs until stiff, then gradually add 4 tablespoons of sugar.

  3. Flavor the meringue with lemon or vanilla, spread it over the custard, and brown slightly in the oven.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they set gently over heat.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, which thickens as the egg proteins set.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that forms the light meringue topping.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and, when whipped with egg whites, stabilizes the meringue.
White sponge cake
Lines the dish and soaks up custard, giving the dessert its base layer.

The step that matters

Stir the custard over heat without boiling. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set, but boiling can overcook them and cause curdling or a grainy texture. Stirring gently over controlled heat keeps the custard smooth.

“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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