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Dessert

Delicious Charlotte Russe

A chilled gelatin dessert made with egg yolks, milk, sugar, cream, gelatin, sherry, vanilla, and served in macaroon cups.

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

Delicious Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Soak gelatin in ½ cup cold milk.

  2. Beat egg yolks until very light, then add sugar and beat well.

  3. In a double boiler, heat sweet milk, then gradually add the yolk and sugar mixture while stirring.

  4. Stir in the soaked gelatin and cook until thick, stirring constantly.

  5. Remove from heat, strain, and whip until cool.

Assemble and serve

  1. Fold in the whipped cream, then flavor with sherry and vanilla.

  2. Line a mold with ladyfingers or macaroons, pack in ice to congeal.

  3. Pour the mixture into the mold.

  4. Serve in macaroon cups, using 5 macaroons per cup.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sherry + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla 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 add richness and colour as they cook.
Gelatin
Sets the cooled mixture so it holds its shape when unmoulded.
Double cream
Adds fat and lightness, giving the set dessert a smooth, creamy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and softens the texture of the set dessert.
Sweet milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that the yolks thicken.

The step that matters

Stir in the soaked gelatin and cook until thick, stirring constantly.. Gelatin must be fully dissolved and the custard kept moving over gentle heat; overheating or letting it stand can curdle the eggs or leave the gelatin unevenly set.

“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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