Name: A Delectable Chocolate Cream
Ingredients: 36 pounds of sugar; 10 pounds of sago flour; 14 pounds of shell dust; 16 pounds of fat or oil; 5 pounds of cocoa; 1 pound of brown coloring; 2 pounds of locust beans

Why it works: Flour and beans are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,080 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

A Delectable Chocolate Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Combine the sugar and sago flour in a large mixing bowl.
Add the shell dust and fat or oil, mixing until well combined.
Stir in the cocoa, brown coloring, and locust beans until the mixture is uniform.
Mold the mixture into desired shapes and allow to set 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.

Flour + beanstop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,080 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Cocoa + beanstop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Flour + cocoatop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together386 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + beanstop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,587 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sago flour: Provides the starchy base that gives the cream body and a firm, set structure.
Fat or oil: Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the mixture.
Cocoa: Supplies the chocolate flavor and aroma.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps bind the mixture into a moldable texture.