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Dessert

Castilian Chocolate Pudding

A chocolate pudding made with gelatin, unsweetened chocolate, sugar, water, sherry, vanilla, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Castilian Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. Soak the gelatin in ¼ cup of water.

  2. Melt the chocolate with the sugar and 4 tablespoons of boiling water over low heat until smooth.

  3. Add ¾ cup of boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.

  4. Stir in the soaked gelatin until dissolved, then strain and let cool.

Set and serve

  1. Once cool, mix in the sherry and vanilla.

  2. When the mixture begins to thicken, fold in the beaten egg whites until well combined.

  3. Mold the mixture and serve with custard sauce.

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. Sherry + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

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

  4. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + sherrytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together94 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

Gelatine
Sets the liquid mixture into a firm, sliceable pudding structure.
Unsweetened chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and deep colour of the pudding.
Sugar
Sweetens the chocolate and balances its bitterness.
Egg whites
Whipped into the mixture to add lightness and airy texture.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Fold gently once the mixture has thickened but is still soft. If it is too hot, the whites deflate; if it has set, they will not blend evenly, leaving streaks and a dense texture.

“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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