Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Cream Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the syrup
Combine sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a saucepan.
Cook until it spins a thread.
Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla, and let stand for 5 minutes.
Beat and set
Slowly pour the mixture over the beaten egg white while beating until it retains its shape.
Fold in the nut meats and spread the mixture in buttered tins.
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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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,943 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,855 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + corntop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, 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
- Sweetens the candy and, once cooked, sets into its firm structure.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a soft, tender texture.
- White corn syrup
- Helps prevent sugar from forming large crystals, keeping the candy smooth.
- Egg white
- Beaten into foam, it gives the candy a light, airy body.
The step that matters
Pouring the cooked syrup over the egg white. The syrup must be poured slowly while beating so its heat cooks the egg white evenly and the foam holds together. Pouring too fast can cause the mixture to deflate or separate, so the candy will not hold its shape.
“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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