Why it works: Apple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓
Charlotte De Pommes.—Charlotte of Apples
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the apples
Cut the apples into quarters and peel them.
Place them in a pan with butter, cinnamon, lemon peel, and sugar.
Stew over medium heat, stirring to prevent burning.
Once nearly done, remove from heat and mix with apricot marmalade.
Assemble and bake
Line a mold with slices of bread dipped in melted butter, then pour in the apple mixture.
Cover the top with more bread slices dipped in butter.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).
Carefully separate the charlotte from the mold and 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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Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together777 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Cinnamon + apricottop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together618 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Form the soft filling that gives the charlotte its body and sweet flavor.
- Bread slices
- Form the crisp, golden shell that holds the apple filling in shape.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the bread brown and crisp in the oven.
- Apricot marmalade
- Adds sweetness, fruity flavor, and extra moisture to the apple mixture.
The step that matters
Stewing the apples until nearly done. Apples hold a lot of water, so stewing them gently and stirring prevents scorching on the pan and lets excess moisture evaporate. If the filling stays too wet, the bread shell can turn soggy during baking.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, butter, cinnamon, sugar, apricot, bread):
- Vanillafits better
- Pearfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, butter, cinnamon, sugar, apricot, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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