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Dessert

Chocolate Pie

A custard chocolate filling baked in a pie crust, topped with whipped cream.

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 ↓

Chocolate Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Boil the milk in a saucepan.

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg smooth with the grated chocolate, corn starch, and sugar.

  3. Add the egg mixture to the boiling milk, stirring constantly until thick.

  4. Remove from heat and let it cool, then flavor with vanilla.

  5. Spread the chocolate mixture into a pre-baked pie crust.

Top and chill

  1. Whip the cream until stiff, sweeten, and flavor it.

  2. Spread the whipped cream on top of the chocolate filling.

  3. Refrigerate to cool before serving.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 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. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, 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

Egg
Thickens the custard as it heats and helps it set firm when cooled.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, sliceable filling when boiled.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard filling.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and color of the filling.
Cream
Whipped to a stiff topping that adds lightness and richness.

The step that matters

Stirring the custard until thick. Starch needs to reach a boil while being stirred constantly; otherwise it can scorch on the bottom or form lumps, and the filling may stay thin or set unevenly.

“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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