Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, heat the milk until it comes to a boil.
Stir in the chocolate, sugar, and corn starch.
Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.
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.
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Chocolate + corntop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together987 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the starch thickens into a pudding.
- Chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and some body to the pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk as it heats, giving the pudding its set texture.
The step that matters
Cooking until the mixture thickens. Corn starch only thickens fully once the mixture reaches a boil while being stirred. Stirring prevents scorching and lumps, and stopping too early leaves the pudding thin.
“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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