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Chocolate Custard

Chocolate custard made with milk, chocolate, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, baked in a pastry crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla 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 Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Combine milk, grated chocolate, and sugar in a saucepan.

  2. Boil until well dissolved.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Stir in the beaten yolks of three eggs and one egg white, then add vanilla and mix well.

Bake and top

  1. Pour the mixture into a pastry crust.

  2. Bake until set.

  3. Top with the beaten egg whites for meringue.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla 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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that sets into a creamy custard as it cooks.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and give it richness and structure as the proteins set.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the chocolate dissolve fully into the milk.
Grated chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavour and colour of the custard.
Egg white
Whipped into a foam for the meringue topping, giving it lift and a light texture.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Overbaking tightens the egg proteins so they squeeze out liquid, leaving a grainy, weeping custard. The centre should still wobble slightly, as it firms further while cooling.

“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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