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Drink

Cocoa

A chocolate beverage made by boiling water, melting chocolate, and mixing with milk and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Cocoa

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 ↓

Cocoa

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. Boil 1 pint of water in a pot.

  2. Add the chocolate slices.

  3. Stir off the heat until melted.

  4. Return to a gentle heat.

  5. Stir until nearly boiling.

  6. Pour into a basin.

  7. Let cool.

Finish the cocoa

  1. Mix 2 tablespoons of the chocolate mixture with milk.

  2. Warm the mixture.

  3. Add sugar to taste.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

Cake of chocolate
Provides the cocoa solids and fat that give the drink its flavour and body.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, softening the chocolate's texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness, balancing the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Stir off the heat until melted. Chocolate can seize or scorch if overheated, so melting it gently off the heat keeps it smooth and glossy.

“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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