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 Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatine in cold water to cover for 1 hour.
Boil the milk in a saucepan.
Scrape the chocolate and mix it with the sugar.
Moisten the chocolate mixture with the boiling milk.
Make the custard
Stir in the soaked gelatine and the beaten eggs.
Stir briskly for 3 minutes, then remove from heat.
Strain the mixture and add the vanilla.
Set and serve
Pour into molds and let cool.
Serve with sugar and 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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).
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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid mixture into a firm, sliceable gel as it cools.
- Eggs
- Thicken the mixture and add structure and richness to the set dessert.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base and adds creaminess and richness.
- Chocolate
- Adds deep chocolate flavor and color, along with some richness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dessert and balances the chocolate's bitterness.
The step that matters
Stir briskly, then remove from heat. Beaten eggs thicken as they warm, so overheating can scramble them into curds. Stirring keeps the mixture smooth and evenly thickened, and removing it from heat at the right time stops it cooking further.
“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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