Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Chocolate Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the chocolate filling
Boil the milk, grated chocolate, and sugar together.
Stir in the cornstarch dissolved in a little milk.
Add the butter, egg yolks, and one egg white.
Make the meringue and bake
Beat the remaining egg whites to stiff peaks and fold in the sugar.
Bake the pie crust first, then pour in the chocolate mixture.
Spread the meringue on top and brown lightly.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,543 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk and chocolate mixture into a smooth, sliceable custard.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the filling, adding richness and a custard-like set.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff foam with sugar to form the meringue topping.
- Grated chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavor and body of the filling.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture and mouthfeel in the filling.
The step that matters
Adding the cornstarch mixture to the boiling milk. Cornstarch must be dissolved in cold or room-temperature liquid first and then heated to thicken. Lumps form if it is added as dry powder, and the starch needs to reach a boil to fully gelatinize and set the filling.
“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
Chocolate Cookies76 recipes
Chocolate Fudge55 recipes
Chocolate Drop Cookies50 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.