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Chocolate Pie

Chocolate Pie with a chocolate filling topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and chocolate 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 Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. In a saucepan, combine egg yolks, sugar, melted chocolate, cornstarch, and milk.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.

  3. Pour the mixture into a prepared rich pie crust.

Top and bake

  1. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually add 2 tablespoons of sugar.

  2. Spread the meringue over the chocolate filling.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until lightly browned.

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

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

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 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 filling and add richness as they set with heat.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk and chocolate mixture into a sliceable filling when cooked.
Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks to form the meringue topping that browns in the oven.
Melted chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and some body to the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and, in the meringue, helps stabilise the whipped whites.

The step that matters

Cook the filling until thickened. Cornstarch only thickens fully once the mixture reaches a boil while stirred constantly; stopping early leaves a runny filling that will not set when cooled. Constant stirring prevents the yolks and milk from scorching or curdling on the bottom of the pan.

“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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