Why it works: Sugar and cream 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
Make the custard
Soak the gelatine in ½ cup of cold milk for 15 minutes.
Beat the yolks of the eggs and sugar together, then place in a double boiler with the remaining milk.
Stir over heat until it thickens, but do not let it boil.
Add the dissolved gelatine and strain into a large basin.
Assemble and set
Cool the mixture, then add the whisked egg whites, flavoring, and whipped cream.
Mix thoroughly and pour into a mold lined with finger biscuits.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 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).
Sugar and milk 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 custard so it holds its shape when chilled.
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard and, as whisked whites, lighten the mixture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the eggs and cream.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a light, airy texture when whipped in.
The step that matters
Stir the custard over heat without boiling. Egg yolks thicken as they heat but curdle if they boil, leaving a grainy custard instead of a smooth one.
“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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