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Drink

Chocolate

A chocolate beverage made by melting chocolate in boiling water, simmering, milling, then heating with milk or cream and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chocolate

  1. Slice or rasp a cake of chocolate and put it in a pint of boiling water.

  2. Remove from heat and let it simmer for a while.

  3. Mill it again for a smooth texture.

  4. If possible, prepare it ahead of time and store in a covered jar.

Serve

  1. When ready to serve, boil the prepared chocolate mixture in milk or cream and add sugar to taste.

  2. Mill it well before serving.

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Chocolate
Provides the main flavor and body, with cocoa solids and cocoa butter giving richness.
Milk or cream
Forms the liquid base, and its fat and proteins add creaminess and a smoother mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the bitterness of the cocoa.

The step that matters

Boiling the chocolate mixture in milk. Milk proteins and sugars can scorch on the bottom of the pan and boil over quickly. Stirring keeps the heat even and the drink smooth.

“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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