Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Fob Chocolate
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chocolate base
Scald the milk in a saucepan.
Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan over hot water.
Add sugar and salt to the melted chocolate, then gradually stir in the boiling water until smooth.
Place the mixture on the stove and boil for one minute.
Combine and serve
Add the chocolate mixture to the scalded milk and stir well.
Serve in chocolate cups topped with whipped cream.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chocolate
- Provides the main chocolate flavor and body of the drink.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base and adds richness and creaminess.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.
The step that matters
Stirring the boiling water into the melted chocolate until smooth. Chocolate seizes and turns grainy if liquid is added too quickly or too cold. Adding the water gradually while stirring lets the chocolate emulsify into a smooth mixture.
“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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