Name: Chocolate Eclairs
Ingredients: batter for Cream Puffs; 2 squares chocolate; 5 tablespoons powdered sugar; 3 tablespoons boiling water

Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate Eclairs

Ingredients

batter for Cream Puffs
2 squares chocolate
5 tablespoons powdered sugar
3 tablespoons boiling water

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare a batter for Cream Puffs.
Pipe the batter into strips 4x1 inch or make round shapes.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
In a saucepan, combine chocolate, powdered sugar, and boiling water; stir over heat until glossy.
Dip the tops of the eclairs in the chocolate glaze as they come out of the oven.
Once dry, split the eclairs and fill them as you would with cream puffs.
Optionally, add chocolate to the filling.

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.

Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,466 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).