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Dessert

Chocolate Pie

A chocolate custard pie made with cornstarch, sugar, chocolate, milk, egg yolks, vanilla, and topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Mix cornstarch, sugar, and grated chocolate in a bowl.

  2. Add hot milk.

  3. Cook over simmering water for 45 minutes, stirring frequently.

  4. Stir in egg yolks and salt.

  5. Cook for an additional 3 minutes.

  6. Remove from heat.

  7. Let cool slightly.

  8. Add vanilla.

Assemble and bake

  1. Pour into a baked pie shell.

  2. Top with meringue.

  3. Brown in a 275°F (135°C) oven.

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. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, 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

Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, sliceable custard as it cooks.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the filling, adding richness and body to the custard.
Chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and color of the filling.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and adds creaminess.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps balance the chocolate's bitterness.

The step that matters

Cooking the filling over simmering water. Starch thickens only when the mixture reaches a full simmer and is stirred steadily, so stirring often prevents scorching on the bottom and lumps. Egg yolks must be cooked gently after they are added to thicken without curdling.

“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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