Skip to main content
Dessert

Chocolate Parfait

A chilled chocolate dessert made with sugar syrup, melted chocolate, egg yolks, cream, vanilla, and ice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Parfait

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Boil sugar with water to make a thick syrup.

  2. Pour syrup slowly over melted chocolate and mix thoroughly.

  3. When cool, gradually add well-beaten egg yolks.

  4. Cook in a double boiler until thick, stirring constantly.

  5. Remove from heat and beat until cool and light.

Finish and freeze

  1. Flavor with vanilla and fold in whipped cream until very stiff.

  2. Pour mixture into a mold and pack in equal parts of ice and salt for four hours or longer.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture and add richness when cooked gently in a double boiler.
Heavy cream
Adds air and fat when whipped, giving the parfait a light, smooth, creamy texture.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the dish and, boiled into syrup, helps give the base a smooth, thick body.
Melted chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavor and fat that sets the parfait's rich character.

The step that matters

Cook the yolks in a double boiler. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but if they get too hot they can scramble. Gentle heat and constant stirring keep the custard smooth and thick.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes