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 Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the gelatine
Dissolve the gelatine in 1 cup of cold water for 10 minutes.
Add 1 cup of boiling water and set over a teakettle until fully dissolved.
Make the chocolate base
In a separate pot, boil ½ cup of grated chocolate in 1 cup of milk or cream.
Stir in the yolks of 2 eggs and 3 tablespoons of sugar last.
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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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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable cream as it cools.
- Grated chocolate
- Provides the main chocolate flavour and colour in the milk or cream.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the cream and help it set smooth and thick.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.
The step that matters
Stir in the yolks of 2 eggs and 3 tablespoons of sugar last. Egg yolks can scramble if they meet very hot liquid too quickly. Adding them last, off the heat or at low heat, and stirring steadily keeps the custard smooth.
“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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