Chocolate

A soda fountain formula rather than a stovetop one: the drink is assembled in the mug from a syrup already made and a hot-water tap. Everything depends on the syrup, which the book assumes you keep on hand.

• The syrup is the recipeFountain chocolate syrup is cocoa or grated chocolate cooked with sugar and water into a pourable concentrate. The book gives no formula for it. Without it this is a two-line assembly note; a bottled chocolate sauce is the nearest substitute, though it may be sweeter and thinner than a fountain syrup.
• Measures are by fluid ounceTwo ounces of syrup is a quarter cup, four ounces of milk is half a cup. The hot water simply makes up whatever the mug holds beyond those six ounces; the book does not say what size mug it means.
• "Warm milk," not hotThe milk is warmed only so it does not chill the drink; the heat comes from the hot water added last. Scalded or boiled milk would give a cooked, skinned flavour.
• Order of assemblyThe recipe lists syrup, then milk, then hot water, which suggests stirring syrup and milk to a smooth base before the water goes in.
• Whipped creamThe book specifies only a spoonful, with no note on sweetening or stiffness. Cream whipped soft will melt into the surface; stiff sweetened cream sits on top and adds sweetness to an already sweet syrup.
• YieldOne mug, one serving. Scaling up is a matter of multiplying the syrup and milk and keeping a kettle going.