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 ↓
Maple Walnut Fudge
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 236°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
In a large pot, combine sugar, butter, and cream. Cook over medium heat until it reaches soft ball stage (236°F).
Remove from heat and stir in sweet chocolate and fondant until the fondant is dissolved.
Add ground walnuts and mix well.
Pour the mixture onto a paper-lined board or slab to cool.
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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Walnut + chocolatetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,548 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, cream, chocolate):
- Almondfits better
- Filbertfits better
- Hazelnutfits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, cream, chocolate. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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