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Dessert

Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate pudding made with milk, chocolate, sugar, cornstarch, eggs, vanilla, topped with meringue and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the custard

  1. Blend cornstarch with 1 cup milk and add grated chocolate.

  2. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

  3. Heat remaining milk in a double boiler.

  4. Blend chocolate mixture into it.

  5. Add sugar and stir until thoroughly dissolved.

  6. Blend in well-beaten yolks of eggs.

  7. Add vanilla extract.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour pudding into a buttered baking dish.

  2. In a separate bowl, add powdered sugar to stiffly beaten egg whites and spread meringue over top of pudding.

  3. Place in oven at 350°F until slightly browned.

  4. Serve cool.

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. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and whites form the meringue topping that browns in the oven.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, sliceable pudding as it cooks.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the pudding, carrying the chocolate and thickened custard.
Grated chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavour and richness to the pudding.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the meringue.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard while stirring constantly. Cornstarch must be stirred as it heats so it swells evenly and thickens without lumps or scorching on the bottom of the pan.

“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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