Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Butter Scotch
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy
In a saucepan, combine sugar, butter, and cream.
Cook over medium heat until the mixture reaches the hard crack stage (snaps when tested in cold water).
Set and cut
Pour the mixture into buttered pans.
Cut into small squares before it cools completely.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Forms the candy base and, as it cooks to hard crack, sets into a brittle, glassy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rich flavor and a smooth texture in the finished candy.
- Cream
- Adds dairy fat and moisture, softening the candy and making it less brittle.
The step that matters
Cooking to the hard crack stage. Sugar must reach the hard crack stage to set firm and snap. Stopping early leaves a soft, sticky candy, while overcooking can scorch the sugar and make it bitter.
“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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