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Dessert

Chocolate Pudding

A baked chocolate pudding made with vanilla chocolate, milk, sugar, eggs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the chocolate base

  1. Combine the vanilla chocolate and milk in a pan.

  2. Stir until the mixture boils.

  3. Gradually add the sugar, milling the chocolate until smooth and light.

  4. Let the mixture cool.

Assemble and bake

  1. Beat the eggs until frothy.

  2. Mix the beaten eggs with the cooled chocolate mixture.

  3. Pour the mixture into a buttered dish.

  4. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 45 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve cold with sifted sugar on top.

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

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

  4. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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
Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its structure and body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that gives the pudding a soft, creamy texture.
Vanilla chocolate
Provides the main flavor and richness of the pudding.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps smooth the chocolate mixture.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before adding the eggs. Eggs added to a very hot mixture can scramble instead of blending smoothly. Cooling the base first lets the eggs thicken gently as the pudding bakes.

“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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