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 Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
In a saucepan, combine the sweet milk, chocolate, cornstarch, and egg yolks.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.
Pour the mixture into the pre-baked pie crust.
Top and brown
Frost the pie with the reserved egg whites.
Brown the pie in the oven.
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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Baker's chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and dark colour of the filling.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk mixture into a sliceable custard when heated.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help set the custard as they heat.
- Sweet milk
- Forms the liquid base that the other ingredients blend into.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the bitterness of the chocolate.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard until thickened. Cornstarch only thickens fully when the mixture reaches a simmer, so the filling must be heated long enough. Constant stirring prevents scorching on the pan base and stops the egg yolks from curdling or forming lumps.
“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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