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Chocolate Meringue

A chocolate custard topped with browned meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Chocolate Meringue

Ingredients

Directions

Start the base

  1. Whisk the egg whites to a stiff froth.

  2. Beat 3 ounces of sugar with the egg yolks.

Make the custard

  1. Dissolve the cornstarch in 2 tablespoons of milk.

  2. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over boiling water, adding some milk to help it dissolve.

  3. Gradually add the rest of the milk to the melted chocolate and bring to a scald.

  4. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened.

  5. Add the yolk and sugar mixture, stirring until much thicker than boiled custard.

  6. Let it cool slightly, then mix in the vanilla and pour into a glass dish.

Top and brown

  1. Once cold, top with the meringue made from the egg whites and remaining sugar, spooning it into peaks.

  2. Brown the meringue by holding a hot shovel over it.

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 + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  4. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and whites whip into the meringue topping for structure.
Cornstarch
Starch thickens the milk and chocolate mixture into a firm, sliceable custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps stabilize the whipped egg white meringue.
Milk
Provides the liquid base that cornstarch and yolks thicken into custard.
Chocolate
Supplies the main flavor and richness of the custard.

The step that matters

Adding the yolk and sugar mixture. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if they get too hot too fast. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly while the custard thickens gently.

“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.

More chocolate meringue recipes

Pie 13Pudding 8Custard 3 See all 11 →

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