Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Texas Chips
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brittle
In a saucepan, combine melted butter, sugar, water, and molasses.
Boil the mixture until it becomes brittle when dropped in water.
Cool and break
Pour the mixture into buttered plates.
As it cools, pull from the edges to form thin sheets.
Snap off the chips once fully cooled.
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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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + molassestop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,123 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, once boiled down, the hard, crisp structure of the brittle.
- Molasses
- Adds deep flavor and color, and sweetness, while also keeping the candy slightly moist.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender bite, and helps keep the candy from sticking.
The step that matters
Boil until it is brittle in water. As the mixture boils, water evaporates and the sugar concentrates. Stopping too early leaves a sticky candy that will not snap, while boiling too long darkens the sugars and makes the brittle taste 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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