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 Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Preheat the oven and bake the pie crust first.
In a bowl, mix the egg yolks, corn starch, chocolate, and sugar.
Make and fill
Stir the mixture into the boiling water.
Pour the filling into the baked pie crust.
Top and finish
Beat the egg whites and spread them on top of the pie after baking.
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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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Corn + chocolatetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together987 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + chocolatetop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling as they set with heat and add richness.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the boiling liquid into a smooth, sliceable custard.
- Chocolate
- Provides the main chocolate flavor and deepens the color of the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.
- Egg whites
- Whipped and spread on top, they form a light, airy topping.
The step that matters
Stirring the mixture into the boiling water. Cornstarch clumps if it hits hot liquid unmixed. Stirring disperses the starch evenly, so it can swell and thicken the filling smoothly without lumps.
“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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