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Dessert

Chocolate Caramel

A sweet confection made from chocolate, honey, sugar, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Honey and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,336 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramel

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Combine all ingredients in an enamelled pan.

  2. Stir until the mixture boils.

  3. Continue stirring and boil for 30 minutes.

Set and cut

  1. Pour into a buttered tin and let it cool slightly.

  2. Cut into squares once it has hardened.

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. Honey + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,336 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Chocolate + honeytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together519 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Sugar and milk 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

Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and fat that give the set caramel its richness.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and, as it cooks, browns and thickens into the caramel body.
Milk
Adds moisture and milk solids that soften the texture and deepen the caramel flavour.
Honey
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps keep the caramel soft and less grainy.

The step that matters

Continue stirring and boil for 30 minutes. Sugar and milk can scorch on the bottom of the pan during a long boil. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly, and the boiling time drives off water so the mixture sets firm once cooled.

“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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