Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Beat the egg yolks separately from the whites.
In a bowl, combine the sugar and egg yolks.
In a saucepan, mix corn starch, grated chocolate, and boiling water; cook until the chocolate is dissolved.
Cool the chocolate mixture, then stir it into the egg yolk and sugar mixture.
Cook the combined mixture until thick and smooth.
Assemble and top
Prepare the pie crust and fill it with the chocolate mixture.
Beat the egg whites to make meringue and spread it on top of the filled pie.
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.
-
Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Corn + chocolatetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together987 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + chocolatetop 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the filling and whites form the meringue topping.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the chocolate mixture as it cooks into a smooth custard-like filling.
- Grated chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavor and dissolves into the hot water to color the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps stabilize the beaten egg whites.
The step that matters
Cook the combined mixture until thick and smooth. Starch thickens only when it reaches a full boil and is stirred constantly. Stopping early leaves a thin filling, while overheating egg yolks can make them curdle or scramble.
“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.
More chocolate pie recipes
You might also like
Chocolate Cream171 recipes
Corn Cake90 recipes
Corn Starch Cake89 recipes
Chocolate Cookies76 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.