Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil 1 pint of cream with 5 squares of chocolate and 2 ounces of isinglass until dissolved.
Beat 6 egg yolks with 1 pint of cream and add sugar to taste.
Combine the chocolate mixture with the egg yolk mixture.
Strain the mixture.
Stir over gentle heat until thickened.
Serve
Pour into jelly or custard glasses.
Let cool.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Chocolate + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Isinglass
- Sets the custard into a firm, jelly-like texture as it cools.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth texture when gently heated.
- Chocolate
- Provides the main flavour and colour of the custard.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the custard a rich, smooth body.
The step that matters
Stir over gentle heat until thickened. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat; if the heat is too high, they can scramble and turn grainy instead of smooth.
“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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