Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Naple Biscuits, or Charlotte Russe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the shells
Bake the sponge cakes in round deep patty pans and let them cool.
Cut out the inside of the cakes, leaving a shell about ¼ inch thick.
Make the custard
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with boiling milk, sugar, and flavoring until combined.
Fill the cake shells with the custard mixture.
Top and chill
Spread jelly or jam on top of the custard.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites with powdered sugar until stiff peaks form and add a little flavoring.
Spread the egg white mixture over the jelly.
Chill in a cold place until ready to serve.
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Sponge cakes
- Form the edible shell that holds the custard filling.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the boiling milk into a custard and add richness.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff, sweet meringue topping that sets when chilled.
- Jelly or jam
- Adds fruity sweetness and acidity between the custard and meringue.
The step that matters
Beating the yolks into the boiling milk. Adding hot milk to yolks too quickly can scramble them. Pouring slowly while whisking warms the yolks gently, so the mixture thickens smoothly into custard.
“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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