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Dessert

Chocolate Eclairs

Chocolate éclairs made from eggs, sugar, flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, chocolate, sweet milk, cornstarch, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the batter

  1. Beat the eggs and mix in the sugar until well combined.

  2. Add half the weight of the eggs in flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar; mix well.

Make the icing

  1. For the icing, melt the chocolate with sweet milk, then stir in cornstarch and vanilla until smooth.

Bake

  1. Pipe the mixture into small tins or paper shapes and bake until golden.

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

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

Eggs
Beaten into a foam that gives the batter its structure and lift.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps stabilise the beaten eggs while they set.
Flour
Adds structure that holds the batter's shape as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the cream of tartar to release gas that makes the batter rise.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter, helping the baking soda react and stabilising the egg foam.
Chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and richness of the icing.

The step that matters

Folding in the flour and leavening. Once the eggs are beaten, mixing too vigorously deflates the foam that gives the batter its lift. Stir just until combined so the gas from the baking soda and the egg foam keep the pastry light in the oven.

“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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