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Dessert

Chocolate Sauce

A chocolate sauce made by melting chocolate with hot milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, then simmering and straining.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 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 Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Melt 2 ounces grated chocolate in a saucepan.

  2. Add 1 cup hot milk and boil for a couple of minutes, stirring.

  3. Beat together 2 heaping tablespoons sugar with the yolks of 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

  4. While still beating, add the chocolate slowly, turning all back into the hot saucepan.

  5. Set over the fire for 5 minutes, still beating.

Serve

  1. Strain and serve hot. Use over plain puddings, French pancakes, etc.

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.

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. Milk + sugartop 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).

Milk and sugar 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

Chocolate
Provides the main flavor and body of the sauce.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the chocolate melts into, giving a smooth, pourable texture.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the sauce as their proteins set with gentle heat.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Adding the chocolate to the egg mixture while beating. Pouring the chocolate in slowly while beating keeps the egg yolks from scrambling. Constant stirring over the heat then lets the yolks thicken the sauce evenly without curdling.

“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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