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
Prepare the gelatine
Soak the gelatine in 1 cup of milk for 1 hour.
Place the milk and gelatine mixture in a pan of hot water until dissolved, then let it cool.
Make the cream and egg whites
Sweeten the cream with powdered sugar and flavor with sherry.
Whip the cream until stiff.
Beat the egg whites until very stiff, then gradually add the sugar.
Assemble and chill
When the gelatine starts to thicken, stir in the egg whites.
Gently fold in the whipped cream and set the mixture on ice.
Line a bowl with lady fingers before adding the mixture.
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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Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 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).
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
- Gelatine
- Sets the milk and cream mixture so the dessert holds its shape when chilled.
- Cream
- Whipped to stiff foam, adding lightness and a rich, creamy body.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a stiff foam that adds airiness to the mousse-like filling.
- Lady fingers
- Form the sponge lining that holds the filling in its shape.
- Sherry
- Adds flavour and aroma to the cream.
The step that matters
Stir the egg whites in while the gelatine is only starting to thicken. If the gelatine has set too firmly, the mixture will not blend evenly with the egg whites and cream and will become lumpy. If it is still too thin, the foam will deflate and the filling will not hold its shape. Timing the addition at the point of slight thickening keeps the foam airy and the set even.
“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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