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Chocolate Eclairs

Chocolate eclairs are filled with custard and frosted with chocolate icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla 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 ↓

Chocolate Eclairs

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

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 choux paste

  1. Boil the butter and water together.

  2. Stir in the flour while boiling until combined.

  3. Let the mixture cool, then add the beaten eggs and mix well.

  4. Spoon the mixture into muffin rings and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

  5. Once baked and cooled, make an opening in the side of each eclair.

Make the custard

  1. For the cream, dissolve the chocolate in warm water over a boiling kettle.

  2. Gradually add the milk and let it scald.

  3. Beat the egg, then mix in the sugar and corn-starch.

  4. Stir this mixture into the scalded milk and cook over boiling water until thickened.

  5. Add a little salt and vanilla to the custard.

Fill and frost

  1. Fill the eclairs with the custard and frost the tops with hot icing made from the melted chocolate.

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. Milk + vanillatop 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

Eggs
Bind the paste and set the choux structure as they cook, giving the shells lift.
Flour
Forms the starch structure of the choux paste that holds the eclair shape.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the choux paste, tenderising the shell.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding creaminess and body.
Corn-starch
Thickens the custard as it cooks, giving it a smooth, sliceable texture.
Chocolate
Gives the custard and frosting their chocolate flavour and color.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard until thickened. Corn-starch only thickens once heated to a boil, and it must be stirred while cooking to prevent lumps and scorching on the bottom of the pan.

“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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