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Dessert

Fudge

A chocolate fudge made by heating milk, mixing with sugar and chocolate, adding butter, nuts or coconut, then cooling and cutting into squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan.

  2. Grate the chocolate and mix it with the sugar in a bowl.

  3. Pour the heated milk over the sugar and chocolate mixture, then add butter.

Cook and finish

  1. Cook until it begins to grain; test by stirring a little in a saucer.

  2. Add 1 cup of either coconut or chopped nuts and 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

  3. Remove from heat and beat well.

  4. Pour into a buttered tin and let it cool slightly before cutting into squares.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, forms the fine crystals that give fudge its texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and dissolves the sugar, shaping the soft, creamy body of the fudge.
Chocolate
Supplies the chocolate flavour and some fat that contributes to a smooth set.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.

The step that matters

Cook until it begins to grain. Cooking the sugar syrup to the right point sets the crystal size. Stop too early and the fudge stays soft; go too far and it turns hard or sandy. Beating after removing from heat encourages fine, smooth crystals.

“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.

More fudge recipes

Chocolate 85Maple 38Cake 30Marshmallow 18Divinity 15Peanut Butter 13 See all 48 →

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