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Chocolate Eclairs

Chocolate pastry filled with chocolate custard and coated with chocolate glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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 ↓

Chocolate Eclairs

Ingredients

Directions

Make the choux pastry

  1. Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).

  2. In a pot, cook the flour, lard, and water together, stirring until thick.

  3. Remove from heat and slowly add the eggs, mixing well.

  4. Using a piping bag, form the mixture into eclairs about 4 inches long.

  5. Bake for 25 minutes until golden.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, combine milk, water, sugar, eggs, cornstarch, vanilla, and salt in a double boiler.

  2. Cook until thick, then fill the eclairs from both ends.

Make and apply the covering

  1. For the covering, melt the chocolate in a double boiler.

  2. Mix the powdered sugar with water and add to the melted chocolate.

  3. Cover the eclairs on top and halfway down the sides.

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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the choux paste that puffs and holds the eclair shape.
Eggs
Add structure and richness to the paste and set the custard filling as it cooks.
Lard
Adds fat that adds tenderness and richness to the choux paste.
Cornstarch
Thickens the filling into a smooth, stable custard as it cooks.
Milk
Provides the liquid base of the custard filling and adds richness.
Chocolate
Gives the covering its flavor and sets to a glossy coat as it cools.

The step that matters

Baking the choux paste. Choux puffs because steam from the water and fat expands the batter while the starch sets. Opening the oven early or underbaking can cause the shells to collapse or stay soggy inside.

“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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