Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Maple Fudge
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Crush the maple sugar fine with a rolling pin.
Make the fudge
In a saucepan, combine the crushed sugar and hot milk, adding a pinch of baking soda.
Heat the mixture slowly until the sugar melts, then bring to a fast boil.
When the syrup threads from the tip of a spoon, stir in 1 tablespoon of butter.
Once it reaches a boil again, pour onto a slab or into buttered pans.
Cut into squares as it hardens.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Maple sugar
- Provides the sweetness and maple flavor that defines the fudge.
- Milk
- Dissolves the sugar and adds moisture and richness to the fudge.
- Baking soda
- Raises the mixture's pH, helping it stay smooth and tender as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smoother, softer texture and richer mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Judging the syrup stage. The fudge sets by cooling a concentrated sugar syrup. Stirring in the butter at the thread stage, rather than earlier or later, controls how much water remains and therefore how firm the fudge becomes.
“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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