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 ↓
Chocolate
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the chocolate into small pieces.
Make the hot chocolate
Add the chocolate to a pot with boiling water and simmer until dissolved.
Stir in the milk or cream and sugar.
Whisk thoroughly to create a froth before serving.
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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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Chocolate
- Provides the main flavour and, once melted, the body of the drink.
- Milk or cream
- Adds richness and creaminess, softening the bitterness of the chocolate.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the bitterness of the chocolate.
The step that matters
Whisk thoroughly to create a froth before serving. Whisking traps air bubbles into the liquid, creating a light foam on top. Serving right after whisking keeps the froth from collapsing as the drink cools.
“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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