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 ↓
Chocolate Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare a flat cake thick enough to separate the top from the bottom after baking.
Mix the powdered chocolate and sugar together.
Make the filling
Gradually add boiling milk and beaten egg yolks, then stir in vanilla.
Simmer the mixture on the fire for 10 minutes.
Assemble and serve
Once cooled, spread the mixture on the bottom half of the cake, place the top half on, sprinkle with sugar, and serve.
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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Sugar + chocolatetop 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling and add richness as they set during simmering.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.
- Powdered chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and colour of the filling.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the filling and gives it a creamy texture.
The step that matters
Simmering the filling. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with gentle heat. Too little heat leaves the filling runny, while too much heat can curdle the yolks, so keep the mixture at a gentle simmer while stirring.
“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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