Why it works: Coffee and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,497 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells buttery, creamy. The science ↓
Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the pudding
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a bowl, combine milk, bread crumbs, beaten egg yolks, coffee sugar, and vanilla extract.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle chocolate on top.
Bake slowly for 1 hour.
Top and serve
Whip the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add powdered sugar.
Spread the meringue on top of the pudding and brown slightly.
Serve with cream.
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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Coffee + chocolatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,497 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Coffee + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,391 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the custard so it sets softly as it bakes.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff meringue that forms the light topping.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the milk and give the pudding body and structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs set into a custard.
- Chocolate
- Adds rich chocolate flavor and color to the pudding.
The step that matters
Whip the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites must be whipped to stiff peaks with sugar added gradually so the meringue holds its shape and browns evenly on top. Under-whipped or greasy whites will collapse and weep.
“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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