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Dessert

Chocolate Pie

A custard chocolate pie baked with a crust and topped with browned egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs until light.

  2. Mix the beaten yolks with 2 tablespoons of milk.

  3. Heat the chocolate and remaining milk together.

  4. Add salt and sugar to the heated mixture.

  5. When the mixture is scalding hot, stir in the egg yolks.

  6. Cook the mixture for 2 minutes.

  7. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

  8. Add vanilla to the cooled mixture.

Bake the pie

  1. Line a pie plate with crust.

  2. Pour the filling into the crust-lined pie plate.

  3. Bake the pie for 20 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

Top and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites until light.

  2. Sweeten the beaten whites with 2 teaspoons of sugar.

  3. Spread the sweetened whites over the baked pie.

  4. Brown the egg whites slightly.

  5. Serve the pie cold.

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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 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. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + chocolatetop 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard filling, and whites whip into the topping.
Milk
Provides the liquid base that the custard sets from.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps stabilize the beaten egg white topping.
Chocolate
Gives the filling its chocolate flavor and dark color.

The step that matters

Stirring the yolks into the hot mixture. Egg yolks thicken when gently heated, but overheating or adding them too fast can scramble them. Cooking the custard only briefly after adding the yolks keeps it smooth and thick.

“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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