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Dessert

Chocolate Pudding

A custard-like pudding made with milk, chocolate, eggs, bread crumbs, sugar, butter, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Scald the milk in a saucepan.

  2. Add the bread crumbs and sugar.

  3. Cook for 5 minutes.

  4. Remove from heat and pour over the grated chocolate.

  5. Stir until dissolved, about 10 minutes.

  6. Add vanilla to taste and the butter.

  7. Incorporate the well-beaten eggs.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a water bath until firm.

  2. Cool and chill before serving with whipped cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

Eggs
Set the pudding into a firm custard as they cook.
Milk
Provides the liquid base that the eggs and crumbs set in.
Bread crumbs
Thicken the mixture and give the pudding body.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and softens the chocolate flavor.
Grated chocolate
Supplies the chocolate flavor and color.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Incorporate the well-beaten eggs. Eggs set when heated, but if the hot mixture is too hot when they are added, they can scramble. Add them gradually or temper them first, and bake gently in a water bath so the custard sets smooth rather than curdled.

“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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