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Italian Confectioner

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Italian Confectioner

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Line the inside of the tin moulds with paper or vine leaves.

  2. Dip the moulds in lukewarm water to prevent sticking.

  3. Immediately dip them in cold water to remove any salt.

  4. Open the moulds and remove the fruit.

  5. Dissolve each color in separate cups or pots, using two for each color: one light and one dark.

  6. Color the fruit according to your preference, using nature as your guide.

  7. Place the colored fruit in the lined moulds and put them in ice until ready to serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Cream + saffrontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together243 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Chocolate + saffrontop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the saffron

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, chocolate, cream):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Peppermintfits better
  4. Saffronthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, chocolate, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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