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Dessert

Chocolate Pie

A chocolate pie with a pastry crust, custard filling, and meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Beat the yolks of two eggs with half a cup of sugar.

  2. Add two ounces of sweet chocolate and a cup of milk.

Prepare the crust

  1. Line a pie plate with pastry.

  2. Prick the pastry with a fork.

  3. Brush the pastry with the white of an egg.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake the pie.

  2. When the pie is half done, pour in the mixture and finish baking in a moderate oven.

  3. Cool the pie slightly.

  4. Cover the pie with a meringue made of the whites of two eggs, two tablespoons of sugar, and vanilla to flavor.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

431Calories
16 gProtein
22 gFat
42 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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. See the original page.

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. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Sweet chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and body of the filling.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the filling as it bakes; whites form the meringue topping.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue hold its structure.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the filling, adding moisture and softness.

The step that matters

Pouring in the mixture at the half-done point. The crust needs to set and partly bake before the liquid filling goes in, so it stays crisp rather than soggy. Adding the filling too early can leave the crust wet, and waiting too long can leave the custard underbaked in the center.

“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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