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,
Ingredients
Directions
Make the chocolate base
Scrape the chocolate finely and place it in a saucepan with the cold water.
Place the saucepan into a pan of boiling water and dissolve the chocolate for 10 minutes.
Finish the milk
Stir in the boiling water, hot milk, and sugar.
Stir constantly and boil for 5 minutes.
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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Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Chocolate
- Provides the main flavour and colour of the drink.
- White granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the bitterness of the chocolate.
- Rich sweet milk
- Forms the body of the drink and gives it a creamy texture.
The step that matters
Dissolve the chocolate gently in the water bath. Chocolate can seize or scorch if overheated, so melting it slowly in a pan of boiling water keeps it smooth and evenly blended before the milk is added.
“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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