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Dessert

Chocolate Custard

A sweet, thickened milk custard flavored with chocolate and vanilla, topped with whipped egg whites and bright jelly.

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

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it reaches a boil.

  2. Add the sugar and grated chocolate, then boil gently for 5 minutes.

  3. Gradually stir in the beaten egg yolks, ensuring the mixture does not boil.

  4. Remove from heat as soon as it thickens.

  5. Once nearly cold, add vanilla to taste and beat briskly for 1 minute.

Serve

  1. Pour the mixture into custard cups.

  2. Whip the egg whites with powdered sugar until frothy and top each cup with it.

  3. Garnish with a piece of bright colored jelly.

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. 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, giving it a rich, smooth body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the yolks thicken into a creamy custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps keep the yolks smooth when heated.
Grated chocolate
Gives the custard its chocolate flavor and deep color.
Egg whites
Whipped with powdered sugar to form a light, frothy topping.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg yolks without boiling. Egg yolk proteins set when heated, so if the mixture boils it can curdle and turn grainy. Keep the heat gentle and remove the custard as soon as it thickens.

“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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