Name: Chocolate Caramels
Ingredients: 2 pounds New Orleans brown sugar; ¼ pound unsweetened chocolate (such as Walter Baker's); 1 cup rich cream; 1 egg-sized piece of butter; 1 tablespoon vanilla

Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

2 pounds New Orleans brown sugar
¼ pound unsweetened chocolate (such as Walter Baker's)
1 cup rich cream
1 egg-sized piece of butter
1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions

Boil the brown sugar and cream without stirring, beating hard while cooking.
Once it reaches a boil, add the grated chocolate and boil for five minutes.
Remove from heat and add the vanilla, beating hard for five minutes.
Pour the mixture into buttered pans and do not stir, but continue to beat hard.

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.

Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,020 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Brown sugar: Provides sweetness and the caramel flavor as it cooks.
Cream: Adds fat and moisture, giving the caramel a soft, rich texture.
Unsweetened chocolate: Adds chocolate flavor and fat, making the caramel richer and darker.
Butter: Adds fat for a smooth texture and keeps the pans from sticking.

The step that matters

Beating while the mixture cooks and cools. Beating keeps sugar crystals small and the mixture smooth, while stirring can let large crystals form, leaving the caramel grainy. Avoid stirring during cooking, as the record directs.

“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.

Chocolate Cream171 recipes

Vanilla Ice Cream108 recipes

Chocolate Cookies76 recipes

Chocolate Fudge55 recipes

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Chocolate Caramels