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Drink

Chocolate

A chocolate beverage made with grated chocolate, water, milk, nutmeg, and sweetened to taste.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. Mix the grated chocolate with a little water to form a smooth paste.

  2. Boil the mixture in water for 15 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the rich milk and bring to a boil.

  2. Stir in the grated nutmeg and sweeten to taste.

  3. Serve with cream on the side.

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.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

  3. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Grated chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavour and body, with cocoa solids giving a slightly bitter depth.
Rich milk
Forms the creamy liquid base, adding richness, body and mild sweetness from milk sugar.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the bitterness of the chocolate.
Grated nutmeg
Adds a warm, aromatic spice note that complements the chocolate and milk.

The step that matters

Bring the milk to a boil. Milk scorches easily on the base of the pan because its proteins and sugars stick and burn at high heat. Stirring while it heats keeps it smooth and prevents a cooked skin or burnt taste.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chocolate, milk, sugar, cream):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Peppermintfits less well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, milk, sugar, cream. 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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