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Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A chilled custard dessert made with Savoy biscuits, vanilla, egg yolks, cream, gelatine, milk, and sugar, topped with jelly and candied fruits.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold

  1. Pour about ⅓ inch of jelly into the bottom of a mold.

  2. Arrange a row of cherries around the edge of the jelly.

  3. Place the mold in a cool place to set.

  4. Trim and divide the Savoy biscuits.

  5. Arrange the biscuits around the sides of the mold.

Make the custard

  1. Dissolve the gelatine in ½ cup of water.

  2. Beat the egg yolks.

  3. Add the milk and sugar to the yolks.

  4. Pour the mixture into a custard pan or jug.

  5. Set the pan in a boiling water bath.

  6. Stir the custard until it coats the spoon.

  7. Add the dissolved gelatine to the custard.

  8. Whip the cream.

  9. Fold the whipped cream into the custard mixture.

Set and serve

  1. When nearly cold, pour the mixture into the prepared mold.

  2. Once set, dip the mold in warm water.

  3. Turn the mold out onto a plate.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Biscuit + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together422 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Vanilla and sugar 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 enrich its texture as they cook gently.
Double cream
Whipped, it adds lightness and a creamy body to the set dessert.
Gelatine
Sets the custard so it holds its shape when turned out of the mold.
Savoy biscuits
Line the mold sides, giving the charlotte its structure and a soft, absorbent texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and yolks.

The step that matters

Stir the custard until it coats the spoon. Egg yolks thicken as they warm, but overheating can scramble them. Stirring over gentle heat in a water bath and stopping once the custard coats the spoon keeps it smooth and thick enough to hold the gelatine and cream.

“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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