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Dessert

Parfait of Chocolate

A chilled chocolate custard dessert made with milk, chocolate, egg yolks, gelatin, whipped cream, vanilla syrup, and crushed ice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Parfait of Chocolate

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate custard

  1. Mix boiling milk with chocolate and sweeten to taste to make strong chocolate.

  2. Let the mixture cool.

  3. In an enamelled pan, break the yolks of 10 eggs and strain the chocolate mixture into the eggs.

  4. Stir continually over low heat or in a bain-marie until the custard thickens.

  5. Mix in the dissolved gelatin, strain, and whip while warm.

  6. Let it cool.

Freeze and serve

  1. Pour the cooled custard into a mould and freeze using a spatula frequently.

  2. When nearly frozen, add ⅓ cup of very cold vanilla-flavored syrup and fold in 1 pint of whipped cream.

  3. Finish freezing thoroughly, close the mould securely, and bury it in ice for 2 hours.

  4. Turn the parfait out onto a napkin and serve.

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

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

  4. Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Vanilla + syruptop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set over gentle heat, giving a rich, smooth body.
Gelatine
Sets the custard so the frozen parfait holds its shape when turned out.
Whipped cream
Adds airiness and a light, soft texture to the frozen dessert.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and colour of the parfait.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the chocolate and yolks are combined into.

The step that matters

Stirring the custard over low heat. Egg yolks thicken gently as they warm, but high heat or no stirring can scramble them. Stirring continually or using a bain-marie keeps the custard smooth and thick enough to hold up in the freezer.

“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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