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Drink

Cold Chocolate

A chilled chocolate beverage made with chocolate, sugar, vanilla, ice, syrup, whipped cream, milk, soda water, and vanilla ice cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Cold Chocolate

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. In a granite saucepan, combine the chocolate bits and boiling water, stirring continuously over heat until smooth.

  2. Add the sugar and let the mixture cool.

  3. Once cool, stir in the vanilla extract.

Serve

  1. To serve, in a tall glass, combine the cracked ice, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, milk, and a dash of soda water.

  2. Top with vanilla ice cream if desired.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, 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

Unsweetened chocolate
Provides the deep chocolate flavour and body of the base once melted into the water.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the chocolate base and balances its natural bitterness.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mellows the chocolate into a smooth, drinkable texture.
Whipped cream
Adds richness and a light, airy topping texture to the drink.

The step that matters

Melting the chocolate into the boiling water. Chocolate can seize or turn grainy if stirred unevenly or left unattended over heat. Stirring continuously helps the fat and solids melt evenly into a smooth base, which keeps the drink silky.

“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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