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Dessert

Chocolate Pidding

A baked chocolate pudding topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 Pidding

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.

Make the custard

  1. Scald the milk in a saucepan.

  2. Stir in the grated chocolate until dissolved.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

  4. Add 5 eggs and the cornstarch dissolved in a little cold milk.

  5. Add flavoring to taste.

Bake and top with meringue

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

  2. Beat the 2 egg whites until stiff.

  3. Gradually add the brown sugar.

  4. Spread the meringue over the pudding.

  5. Return to the oven until lightly browned.

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. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs and cornstarch set into a custard.
Eggs
Set the custard and give it body and richness as they cook.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard so it holds its shape when cut.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and colour of the pudding.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff meringue that gives a light, browned topping.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the meringue and helps it brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before adding the eggs. Adding eggs to very hot milk can scramble them and leave lumps. Cooling the mixture first lets the eggs blend smoothly and set into an even custard.

“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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