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
Make the custard
Heat the milk in a double boiler until almost boiling.
Mix the grated chocolate with a little cold milk and add it to the hot milk along with sugar; boil until thick.
Remove from heat and stir in the beaten eggs and vanilla while still warm.
Chill and finish
Chill the mixture on ice until very cold.
Gently fold in the whipped cream and chopped ice.
Dilute with carbonated water if necessary.
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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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 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).
Vanilla and sugar 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
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard as they set when gently heated, giving body to the cream.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the chocolate and eggs are cooked into.
- Grated chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and helps thicken the milk as it boils.
- Whipped cream
- Adds fat and air, making the chilled mixture light and creamy.
The step that matters
Stirring in the eggs while warm. If the eggs are added to a mixture that is too hot, they can scramble and turn grainy. Stirring them in off the heat and while the custard is still warm lets them thicken gently and evenly.
“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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