Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Chocolate Meringue
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the custard
Scrape the chocolate into the milk and bring to a boil with 3 tablespoons of sugar.
In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with the corn starch and a little milk until smooth. Stir the yolk mixture into the boiling chocolate milk and cook until it begins to thicken.
Pour the mixture into a pudding dish and let it cool slightly.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually add ⅔ cup of sugar.
Spread the meringue over the chocolate mixture and brown in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
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.
-
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Chocolate + corntop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together987 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard and whites whip into the meringue topping.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the chocolate milk as it heats, giving the custard body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard.
- Chocolate
- Gives the custard its chocolate flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and stabilises the whipped egg whites.
The step that matters
Cooking the yolk mixture into the boiling milk. Egg yolks can curdle if added cold or too quickly. Stirring the yolks into hot liquid while whisking, then cooking gently until it thickens, keeps the custard smooth as the starch and egg proteins set.
“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.
More chocolate meringue recipes
You might also like
Chocolate Cream171 recipes
Corn Cake90 recipes
Corn Starch Cake89 recipes
Chocolate Cookies76 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.