Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil together the sugar, cream, cocoa, and milk.
Let it boil until reduced by one-third.
Finish and serve
When nearly cold, add the well-beaten yolks of the eggs and beat again.
Pour into custard glasses and serve cold.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cocoa + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together643 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness as they set gently with the cream.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving the custard a smooth, silky body.
- Milk
- Provides liquid and body, diluting the richness of the cream.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the bitterness of the cocoa.
- Cocoa essence
- Supplies the chocolate flavour and deep colour of the custard.
The step that matters
Adding the yolks when nearly cold. If the cooled mixture is still very hot when the beaten yolks go in, the egg proteins can scramble and the custard turns grainy. Adding them once it is nearly cold keeps the texture smooth.
Swap the cocoa
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, milk, egg):
- Almondfits better
- Pecansfits about as well
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Cocoathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, milk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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