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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare and mix
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the grated chocolate, rolled soda crackers, egg yolks, sugar, butter, and lemon rind until well combined.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a close form (baking dish) and boil for one hour.
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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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,543 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help set the pudding as it cooks.
- Egg whites
- Trapped air lifts the mixture and gives a lighter texture.
- Chocolate
- Provides the main flavour and some richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smoother, richer crumb.
- Soda crackers
- Absorb moisture and give the mixture body.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Beaten egg whites hold air that makes the pudding light. Stirring vigorously deflates them, so fold gently with a spatula until just combined.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chocolate, egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, egg, sugar, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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