Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 Pudding
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
Boil the milk and sweeten it to taste with granulated sugar.
Add the butter to the boiling milk and stir until melted.
Cool the mixture, then add the beaten egg yolks and grated chocolate.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, adding powdered sugar while beating.
Spread the egg white mixture evenly over the pudding and brown it nicely.
Serve with cream.
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.
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Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
-
Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vanilla and sugar 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and enrich its texture as they set during baking.
- Bread crumbs
- Add body and absorb milk so the pudding holds together.
- Grated vanilla chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and richness throughout the pudding.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a meringue topping that sets and browns in the oven.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs set and the crumbs soak up.
The step that matters
Browning the egg white topping. Beaten egg whites need to be stiff and spread evenly over the pudding. Uneven spreading or underbeaten whites can make the topping weep or brown unevenly, so browning should be watched closely.
“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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