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 ↓
Steamed Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Grate the chocolate and stir it with sugar into the boiling milk until dissolved.
Cool slightly, then add the beaten egg yolks, crumbled sponge cakes, and finally the beaten egg whites.
Pour the mixture into a buttered mold and steam for 1 hour.
This pudding can also be baked.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, 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
- Eggs
- Egg yolks and whites set the pudding into a light, custard-like structure as it cooks.
- Sponge cakes
- Crumbled sponge cakes soak up the liquid and give the pudding a soft, tender body.
- Milk
- Milk forms the liquid base that the chocolate dissolves into and that the eggs set.
- Unsweetened chocolate
- Melted into the hot milk, it provides the chocolate flavor and richness of the pudding.
The step that matters
Adding the egg whites last. Folding in the beaten egg whites after the mixture has cooled slightly keeps their air from collapsing in heat, so the pudding stays light rather than dense.
“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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