Charlotte with history. Tabletop cookbook Charlotte dish history

04.07.2021

Apple charlotte is one of the most popular desserts in August. Summer residents, having collected a rich harvest, bake this cake almost every day and generously treat them to friends and neighbors. AiF.ru tried to figure out why the pie got such a name.

British versions

Most likely, this pie was invented somewhere in the British Isles, where apples have a special attitude. They believe that this is the fruit that everyone should definitely eat. An English proverb says: “While you eat apples, you don’t need the services of a doctor” (“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”).

Charlotte Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Most Britons are sure that the charlotte recipe appeared at the end of the 18th century thanks to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of the British King George III. This noble person is known for patronizing gardeners. Perhaps that is why various apple dishes often appeared on her table. For tea, she asked to serve a special cake, which was specially prepared according to her taste. At the court, this dessert was called charlotte - after the name of the queen, who adored this delicacy.

But there are also those in the UK who believe that the recipe for this pie is much older. They derive the name of the dessert from the Old English "charlyt". There is no exact equivalent of this word in Russian, it means a dish made from beaten eggs, sugar and milk. If you believe this version, the charlotte was eaten back in the 5th century.

However, the British romantics also have their own version. They say that once upon a time a chef fell hopelessly in love with the noble beauty Charlotte. Due to poverty and low origin, he did not have the slightest chance of gaining her favor. Nevertheless, the lover decided to devote his best culinary creation to her - apple pie.

American version

In the United States, charlotte is considered their national dish. Americans are sure that this cake was invented by a chef from the city of Charlotte in North Carolina. However, it is much more likely that the British brought the dessert there - the recipe is very similar to the traditional European version. But most US citizens strongly disagree with this argument. After all, they even have a saying in their homeland that they use when talking about a typically American phenomenon or subject: “As American as apple pie”.

Charlotte recipes

Classic version

The idea of a classic charlotte was borrowed from the British:

1. Line the bottom of the mold with bread soaked in butter or an egg mixture.

2. Put a layer of ready-made apples (boiled with sugar or mashed) on top of the bread and cover with a layer of soaked bread. Multiple layers can be made.

Charlotte's story

There are several versions of the origin of everyone's beloved apple pie, three of them are the most plausible. If you believe the first, then the charlotte was first prepared specially for the wife of King George III of Great Britain. Her name was Charlotte. She allegedly stood up for the growth of apple orchards and patronized apple producers. Therefore, as a token of gratitude, the subjects prepared this dessert and named it after their queen.

The second story is more mundane: the name of charlotte comes from the Old English word "charlyt", which means "a dish made from sugar, milk and beaten eggs."

The third version is the most romantic. They say that a long time ago a young man lived in France. He worked as a cook in one of the local restaurants. Once, having met a charming girl, the young man fell hopelessly in love. And this love inspired him to create a new dish, which he dedicated to his beloved. Her name was Charlotte.

Each version has a right to life. Everyone can choose which of the three to stick with. Incorrigible romantics will love the latest legend: the airiness of the dish, the harmonious combination of sourness and sweetness, quick preparation, pleasant, but short-lived languor in anticipation of the result. Only a lover could do this.

Such a multifaceted charlotte

After such a background, of course, it is worth making a charlotte, using one of your favorite recipes. What if this dish really contains a certain magic of lovers?

Classic charlotte

1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 3 eggs, 0.5 kg apples, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of brandy, ½ tsp. cinnamon

First, prepare the apples: wash, core, cut into slices. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of brandy and add cinnamon, leave to stand. If you don't want the apples to darken, add a little lemon juice and cover.

For the dough, beat eggs and sugar until smooth, white, fluffy. And gradually add 1 cup of sifted flour to the resulting mixture. Mix gently.

Put the apples in a mold greased with sunflower oil and fill them with the resulting dough. We put in the oven, preheated to 180˚, and wait 35-40 minutes.

Curd charlotte

250 g of cottage cheese (you can skim), 1 glass of sugar, 4 large apples, 3 eggs, 100 g of butter, 1 glass of semolina, 15 g of baking powder, bread crumbs.

Wash the apples, core them, cut into cubes. Cover with sugar, set aside until sugar dissolves. Mix cottage cheese, eggs and semolina, add melted butter and baking powder last. Stir the mixture with the apples.

It is better to line the form with baking paper, grease and sprinkle with bread crumbs. We put our billet in an oven preheated to 200˚ and bake until golden brown.

Polish charlotte

3 egg yolks, 200 g butter, 500 g flour, 100 g sour cream, 1 kg apples, 250 g cookies, 15 g baking powder, vanilla and cinnamon to taste.

Mix flour, baking powder, vanilla and butter. Grind the yolks with sugar until white and add to the flour mass. The resulting dough should not stick to your hands. Put the finished dough in the refrigerator for an hour.

After an hour, we take out the dough from the refrigerator. We divide into two parts - one is slightly larger than the other. Roll out a large one thinly and spread it on the bottom of the mold, so as to completely close the bottom and get the sides. Sprinkle the dough with a thin layer of cookie crumbs, then lay out a layer of apples, sprinkle the apples with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. The second layer is repeated in the same sequence. Roll out the remaining dough and close the filling.

In the oven, preheated to 180 degrees, we put our future pie and wait about 30 minutes. Then set the temperature regulator to 75˚ and wait about 30 minutes more until fully cooked.

Charlotte on mineral water

4 - 5 pcs. large apples, 70 g raisins, 70 g walnuts, 3 eggs, 150 g sugar, 1 tbsp. flour, ½ tsp. soda, 1/3 tbsp. mineral water, 3 tbsp. l. mayonnaise, vanillin, cinnamon, lemon zest - to taste.

Wash apples, remove the core, cut into large slices. We spread in a mold, previously oiled. Sprinkle with nuts and raisins on top, cinnamon if desired.

Prepare the dough separately: mix eggs, sugar, mayonnaise, flour, slaked soda and mineral water. Add zest and vanillin to taste. Mix everything with a mixer and pour it into a mold with apples. Bake in the oven at 180˚ until tender.

There are so many recipes for your favorite cake that when you hear the name "charlotte", you can never be sure that you will accurately guess all the ingredients. And why? There must be some mystery to the cake with a romantic past.

Charlotte is loved all over the world, but somewhere it is a pudding, somewhere a cold dessert, and in Russia it is a simple pie with apples. In this article I will tell you about the history of the origin of this many-sided sweetness, about its travels around the world.

Charlotte is a simplified, folk, one might say affectionate derivative of "Charlotte".

There are two versions of the origin of the name:

1) Most of the legends associated with the creation of charlotte indicate that it comes from the female name "Charlotte".

2) Some culinary scholars claim (based on English recipes of the 15th century and later, which is credible) that the name of the dessert charlotte comes from the English word charlyt, which means a dish made from beaten eggs, sugar and milk. In the 15th century, in England, by the way, a meat dish with the same name was also popular.

From various sources, I have collected almost all the available versions of Charlotte's origin, some of them are pretty funny:

1) Be that as it may, but all modern types of charlotte come from English pudding. I put this most realistic, in my opinion, version at the very beginning, so as not to confuse you. It was the British who invented this dessert, and what we have now has arisen relatively recently. In foggy Albion, it seems, puddings are prepared from everything in the world. The English charlotte recipe is very simple, although there are also many options. That first and simple charlotte was a cold dessert, the so-called "raw", when moistened slices of bread were stacked in layers, interspersed with chopped fruit.

The base of both cold / raw and baked charlotte is moistened slices of bread or biscuit, which are used to spread a small form, filling the middle with steamed fruit. The most common and favorite option is apple charlotte. But slices of bread are moistened with anything, and in loose butter, and in syrup from under stewed fruits, and in wine, and in Russia they loved to moisten bread in a mixture of eggs and milk (Oh, how many centuries have passed, but here still love to moisten bread slices for toast in this egg-milk mixture).

2) This version is also English, but with royal participation.

In the 18th century, King George III ruled Great Britain, his wife Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the patroness of apple growers. It is believed that it was she who came up with the apple dessert "Charlotte". Of course, I did not search much, but I did not find any confirmation of this theory. Since this pudding existed before Queen Charlotte, I think she improved the recipe, but again, there is no information about this. But this version is beautiful, I admit it.

3) Many people know the romantic legend about the creation of charlotte by a certain chef from Great Britain, who was hopelessly in love with a girl named Charlotte, for whom he created a wonderful apple dessert and named it after his beloved. Name, place of residence or work, and at least the time of life is lost forever, except for a dessert with a beautiful name. Doubtful version, but it has been alive and well for a long time.

4) Often the creator of charlotte is called the French chef Marie Antoine Carem, who lived in the late 18th and early 19th century, he was one of the founders of modern cuisine, "haute cuisine", he was called "the chef of kings and the king of chefs." But he modified the charlotte, creating a new look, which is now called the Charlotte Russe.

Illustration from Karem's book, he is on the right.

How it was: they say that Antoine Karem modified the charlotte in 1802, laying out the form not with bread, but with Savoyardi ("Ladies fingers") cookies, filling the middle with Bavarian cream with gelatin. This charlotte was a cold dessert and was called "Paris charlotte". But in 1814 the Russian Tsar Alexander I entered Paris as the winner, for whom Karem prepared his dessert. Since then, this cake is known worldwide as "Charlotte Russe".

5) The most beautiful and funny thing I have left for you at last.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, there were many German bakeries in Russia, in which this dessert was prepared from the remains of bread and bakery products. The Russians laughed and said that the wives of the Germans save money and even make pies from crackers, while the wives themselves, to summarize, were called Charlottes behind their backs. The name Charlotte was very popular at the time and became a household name for any German woman living in Russia.

6) In America, it is believed that their national charlotte was invented by a chef from the city of Charlotte, which is somewhat doubtful, given the similarity with the English recipe. Most likely, the charlotte was brought in by immigrants. In the 19th century, a saying appeared in America, which is pronounced when speaking of a typically American phenomenon or object: "As American as apple pie" ("As American as an apple pie").

Charlotte evolution.

Despite the fact that charlotte is prepared with many fruits, the whole world fell in love with its apple version.
So, initially charlotte is a bread pudding, and its cold version, "raw". Those. slices of bread soaked in syrup from under cooked fruits were folded into the form in layers, between the bread these fruits were laid out, everything was covered with bread slices.

Then they began to bake the charlotte, the bread was already soaked in melted butter or wine, and even in a mixture of eggs and milk. But bread slices were already laid out not in layers, but along the bottom and along the walls of the form, filling the middle with stewed fruits.
Antoine Karem made charlotte an elegant and very delicate dessert, replacing the bread with Savoyardi cookies and biscuit slices, and the apple filling with Bavarian cream.

In Russia, in the 18th and 19th centuries, with a stream of foreign chefs, recipes for charlotte poured in, which adapted to our Russian realities, as a result of which charlotte was born from rye bread. But Charlotte Russe did not take root. At the beginning of the 20th century, in our country, charlotte turned into a very simple biscuit cake with apples, which every housewife knows. So many generations have grown up on a simple apple charlotte recipe. And although our women are so talented that there are a great many variations of the simplest pie at the moment, everyone dearly loves the classic charlotte recipe, this is not even a recipe, but proportions that each complements according to his taste: 1 glass of flour, 1 glass of sugar, 4 eggs, 0.5 teaspoon of baking soda, slaked vinegar. Nowadays, soda is replaced with baking powder and vanilla sugar is added.

Despite the fact that Charlotte Russe did not take root in Russia, it is very popular in Europe and America. By the way, about America!
Charlotte came to this continent along with immigrants, but a legend was born very quickly that an American chef from a city named Charlotte invented charlotte. To the credit of the Americans, they somewhat modified the charlotte, but for the better, giving birth to a new and wonderful pie, making it truly national and their pride.

Now in the world there are three main types of charlotte, from which all culinary specialists are already dancing.

1. English charlotte pudding, made from bread slices and apples, can be either "raw" or baked.

2. Charlotte Russe, born by the great Antoine Karem. This charlotte is prepared by laying out the form with savoyardi cookies, Bavarian cream with gelatin is poured into the form. Nowadays, Bavarian cream is mixed with various berry and fruit purees or chocolate, and jelly is poured on top of the pie, most often berry.

3. A modern Russian charlotte with apples, which is a classic biscuit with apples in the dough.

Until the middle of the last century, there was even a special detachable form for charlotte and it was called - charlotte! But, unfortunately, I could not find a single photograph or illustration of this unique form, although in some books it is said about it that it is small, narrow and high with a removable bottom. Now, by the way, this is not tragic, since the stores are full of detachable forms of various sizes.

British versions

Charlotte Mecklenburg-Strelitzkaya. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Most Britons are sure that the charlotte recipe appeared at the end of the 18th century thanks to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of King George III of Britain... This noble person is known for patronizing gardeners. Perhaps that is why various apple dishes often appeared on her table. For tea, she asked to serve a special cake, which was specially prepared according to her taste. At the court, this dessert was called charlotte - after the name of the queen, who adored this delicacy.

American version

Charlotte recipes

Photo: Shutterstock.com

Classic version

The idea of a classic charlotte was borrowed from the British:

1. Line the bottom of the mold with bread soaked in butter or an egg mixture.

2. Put a layer of ready-made apples (boiled with sugar or mashed) on top of the bread and cover with a layer of soaked bread. Multiple layers can be made.

3. Bake charlotte in the oven and serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream or sweet sauces.

Modern version

Mix 4 eggs, 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar, add a teaspoon of soda slaked with vinegar and a few chopped apples, bake in the oven.

One of the most delicious desserts - charlotte pie - quickly gained popularity in the CIS countries. Charlotte is easy and quick to prepare, and all the products you need for baking are easy to get, some of them grow in the gardens near the house. Charlotte can rightfully be called an autumn pie, since mostly in the fall, people's warehouses are filled with apples. This dessert can be prepared in a hurry and please guests and loved ones with such a delicious dish.

However, the roots of the dish come from England, where it was first prepared. The recipe for the cake was invented by the genius of the nineteenth century, namely the Frenchman Marie Karem. Marie conquered the bellies of many monarchs and their names, so the chef liked the Russian Emperor Alexander the First, to whom Marie passed from the hands of George the Fourth, King of England. One of the versions of the origin of the name says that the cake was named after the mother of King George.

In Russia, the first charlotte was prepared differently: a layer of biscuit cookies was placed on the bottom of the mold, and covered with cream on top. Apples began to be added a little later, and in addition to them, nuts, raisins and even cocoa began to be added. In Soviet times, under Comrade Stalin, the name of the pie was changed to "Russian grandma" - in order to remove the bourgeois roots of capitalist Europe from the name of the delicacy.

In America, in particular in the city of New York, a special variation of the charlotte pie has appeared, which is very different from the classic delicacy. The pastry chef places a biscuit with whipped cream and cherries in paper cups.

In order to embellish this dessert, you can increase the splendor by adding baking powder. It is also possible to beat the egg white and yolk in a separate bowl. This will undoubtedly increase the cooking time of the cake, but it will make it unusual and very airy. It is also worth noting the possibility of making custard biscuit.

In addition to apples, pears, plums can be added to charlotte, and various berries such as cranberries, currants, raspberries will undoubtedly decorate the delicacy. Often, along with fresh apples, dried fruits are added to the dish. This trick adds sophistication and a unique flavor to the cake. It is also possible to add raisins and dried apricots to the dough, which will add originality to your dish.