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Raisin Fudge

A sweet fudge made with sugar, butter, milk, chocolate, walnuts, and raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Raisin Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, butter, milk, and chocolate.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring continually until bubbles break slowly.

  3. Add walnuts and raisins, stirring until the mixture becomes stiff.

  4. Pour the mixture into buttered pans.

Finish

  1. Once cool, cut 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  3. Walnut + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together647 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

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 the mixture cooks, forms the firm body of the fudge.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, tender texture and rich flavor.
Milk
Supplies moisture and creaminess to the sugar mixture.
Chocolate
Adds deep chocolate flavor and extra richness.
Walnuts
Add crunchy texture and a toasty, nutty flavor against the soft fudge.
Seedless raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the fudge.

The step that matters

Stirring until stiff after adding the walnuts and raisins. As water evaporates the sugar concentration rises, so the fudge sets firm as it cools. Stir only until the mixture stiffens; undercooked fudge stays soft, and overcooking can make it grainy.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, milk, chocolate, walnut):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, milk, chocolate, walnut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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