Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
In a bowl, mix Flour-ador, sugar, and grated chocolate with a little cold milk.
Pour this mixture into the remaining boiling milk and return to the saucepan.
Boil for 5 minutes, then add vanilla extract.
Set and serve
Pour the mixture into a wetted china mold and let it firm up.
Once firm, turn out the pudding onto a serving plate.
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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Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vanilla and sugar 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
- Flor-ador or cornstarch
- Thickens the milk so the pudding sets firm when cooled.
- Grated chocolate
- Supplies the chocolate flavor and some body to the pudding.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the starch thickens into custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps it stay soft after setting.
The step that matters
Boil for 5 minutes after adding the starch mixture. Starch granules must reach a full boil and be stirred while heating to swell and thicken fully. Undercooked starch stays grainy and fails to set firm when the pudding cools in the mold.
“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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