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Drink

Vienna Chocolate

A hot chocolate beverage made with milk, grated chocolate, vanilla, and topped with thick beaten cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Vienna Chocolate

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate

  1. Rub the grated chocolate smooth in a little cold water.

  2. Bring the milk to a boil.

  3. Add the chocolate and boil for about 5 minutes or until desired thickness.

  4. Remove from heat and season with essence of vanilla.

Serve

  1. Pour into cups two-thirds full and add thick beaten cream.

  2. Serve quickly while still hot.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  4. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

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

  5. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Vanilla and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 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 gives the drink its body and creamy richness.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and, as it boils, thickens the drink.
Thick beaten cream
Adds a rich, cool topping that softens the hot chocolate as it melts in.

The step that matters

Add the chocolate and boil for about 5 minutes. Chocolate must be fully smooth before it goes in, and the milk should be kept at a steady boil. Boiling thickens the drink as the starch and proteins in the milk set, so stopping too early leaves it thin and undercooked.

“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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