Name: Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients: ½ pint of cream; 2 eggs; 2 teaspoons of Cadbury’s cocoa essence; a little vanilla flavoring; saccharin

Why it works: Cocoa and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 357 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the mixture

Blend the cocoa in some of the cream.
Add the vanilla and saccharin.
Stir in the beaten eggs.
Finally, stir in the remaining cream.

Bake

Pour into a pie dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) like an ordinary custard pudding.

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.

Cocoa + vanillatop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together357 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,301 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together27,347 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together42,166 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream + cocoatop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together304 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Cream and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 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: Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its body and structure.
Cream: Adds richness and moisture, producing a smooth, soft texture.
Cocoa essence: Provides the chocolate flavor and color that define the pudding.