Why it works: Lemon and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,229 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: bread
Directions
Combine one pound granulated sugar, one-half pint water, and one-third teaspoon cream of tartar in a saucepan and boil until the mixture reaches the hair or brittle stage.
Pour the hot syrup into a shallow buttered pan; when it cools enough to handle, add one-third teaspoon tartaric acid and one-third teaspoon lemon extract.
Work the mixture in until the flavor is evenly distributed, then allow to cool and set.
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. See the original page.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Lemon + potatotop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,229 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + milktop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + cream cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,746 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Potato + beeftop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,051 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Milk + potatotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Granulated sugar
- Forms the syrup that sets into the chewy body and provides the sweetness.
- Tartaric acid
- Adds acidity and keeps the candy tender by partly breaking down the sugar.
- Lemon extract
- Provides the lemon aroma and flavor.
The step that matters
Boiling the syrup to the hair or brittle stage. The final sugar concentration set by the boiling temperature controls whether the taffy turns out chewy or hard. Boiling too short leaves it soft and sticky, while boiling too long makes it brittle.
“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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