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Chocolate Custard Pie

A chocolate custard pie baked with a crust, topped with beaten egg whites and sugar.

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 Custard Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. Dissolve the chocolate in a little of the milk.

  2. Stir the chocolate mixture into the boiling water and boil for 3 minutes.

Make the custard

  1. Cool the mixture, then add the beaten egg yolks (reserve the whites of 3 eggs), vanilla, and remaining milk.

  2. Pour the custard into pie dishes lined with crust.

Top and bake

  1. When the custard is set but not more than half done, spread the beaten egg whites mixed with 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top.

  2. Bake until the egg whites are lightly browned.

  3. This can also be baked without crust in a pudding dish or cups set in boiling water.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

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

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

Chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavor and body to the filling.
Eggs
Thicken the custard as they set and add richness and structure.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and keeps it soft and smooth.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and the topping and helps the egg whites brown.

The step that matters

Spreading the egg whites on a partly set custard. Egg custard sets with gentle heat, and if it is baked too long before the topping goes on, it can become firm, curdled or watery. Adding the meringue topping only once the custard is set but not fully cooked keeps the texture smooth and lets the whites brown 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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