Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the pudding base
Scald the milk, bread crumbs, and grated chocolate in a saucepan.
Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and beaten egg yolks.
Pour the mixture into a pudding dish and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.
Top and serve
Whip the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the sugar to make a meringue.
Spread the meringue over the pudding and brown it in the oven.
Serve warm or cold with cream.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Chocolate + creamtop 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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Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the bread crumbs and chocolate soften and flavour.
- Bread crumbs
- Thicken the milk and give the pudding a soft, body-filled texture.
- Grated chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and colours the pudding.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with sugar, they form the meringue that sets and browns on top.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the whipped egg white meringue.
The step that matters
Whipping the meringue. Egg whites must be whipped until stiff and the sugar added gradually so the foam stays stable. Under-whipped or greasy whites will weep or collapse in the oven, leaving a flat, wet topping.
“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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