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Dessert

Fig Charlotte Russe

A chilled dessert of figs set in gelatin and cream, served in cups with sponge cake or ladyfingers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and sherry work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Fig Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the figs

  1. Cook figs in boiling water until tender.

  2. Sweeten the figs with sugar.

  3. Flavor the figs with claret, sherry, or lemon juice.

Make the custard

  1. Soften gelatine in ¼ cup milk.

  2. Dissolve the softened gelatine in ¾ cup hot milk.

  3. Add ¼ cup sugar, chopped figs, and cooking syrup to the gelatine mixture.

  4. Set the mixture in a pan of ice and water.

  5. Stir the mixture as it chills.

  6. Wait until the mixture begins to set.

  7. Fold in 1 cup of beaten cream.

Assemble and serve

  1. Fill glass cups lined with strips of sponge cake or lady fingers, filling to the top.

  2. Decorate with strips of cooked fig.

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. Fig + sherrytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

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 fig mixture into a soft, sliceable body that holds its shape when chilled.
Cream
Adds richness and a light, airy texture when folded into the partly set mixture.
Figs
Provide the main flavor and sweetness, and their pulp adds body to the filling.
Milk
Forms the base of the set custard and carries the gelatine evenly through the mixture.

The step that matters

Wait until the mixture begins to set before folding in the cream. If the gelatine has set too firmly, the mixture becomes lumpy and stiff and the cream cannot blend in smoothly. If it is still liquid, the cream deflates and the dessert will not hold its shape.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, sherry, milk, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits about as well
  3. Figthe original
  4. Pineapplefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, sherry, milk, cream. 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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