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Drink

Cocoa

A simple cocoa drink made with water, cocoa or nibs, sweetened with molasses or sugar, served with bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Cocoa

Why it works: Cocoa and bread work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 103 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Cocoa

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine 1 pint of water and 1 oz. of flaked cocoa or cocoa nibs in a pot.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes.

  3. Sweeten with 1 oz. of molasses or sugar.

  4. Serve with 6 oz. of bread.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cocoa + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Molasses + breadtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together529 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Cocoa + molassestop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flaked cocoa or cocoa nibs
Provides the chocolate flavor and dark color of the drink.
Molasses or sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the bitterness of the cocoa.

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, bread):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Lima beansfits better
  3. Peasfits better
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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