Skip to main content

Chocolate, Rhubarb and Custard

A classic British combination of flavours with the presentation inspired by the Olympic torch. The recipe allows the ice cream to be ignited without melting.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 20 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Rhubarb and chocolate work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and 29 recipes mention both. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 2
Prep2 hr
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Rub 100g butter, 100g plain flour and 100g caster sugar together into fine crumbs, press into an 8-inch pan and bake 15 minutes. Cool.

  2. Melt 70g white chocolate, stir in 200g praline and 200g feuilletine, press over the cooled base and chill 20 minutes.

  3. Cut 500g rhubarb into pieces and simmer with 125g sugar, 125ml strawberry and a splash of water for 10 minutes until soft. Stir in 30g vodka, then cool slightly.

  4. Spoon the rhubarb compote over the chilled base and return to the fridge.

  5. Simmer 200g rhubarb with 250g sugar and a splash of water for 10 minutes, then strain, keeping the juice. Heat the juice with 6g agar-agar for 2 minutes, pour over the compote and chill 1 hour until set.

  6. Heat 125ml whole milk, 125ml double cream, the split vanilla pod and 50g caster sugar until steaming. Whisk 3 egg yolks, pour in the hot cream, then return to the pan.

  7. Stir gently over low heat until the custard reaches 160°F (71°C) and coats a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in 300g white chocolate until smooth, then add 1 tablespoon dark rum.

  8. Pour the custard over the set rhubarb jelly, cool 10 minutes, then chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Rhubarb + chocolatetop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together29 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Rhubarb + strawberrytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together192 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Strawberry + milktop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,124 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Rhubarb + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together638 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the strawberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rhubarb, sugar, vodka, chocolate, butter, flour, milk):

  1. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  2. Strawberrythe original
  3. Raspberryabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Coconutabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against rhubarb, sugar, vodka, chocolate, butter, flour, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).