Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Old-fashioned White Candy
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, combine cold water, granulated sugar, and cream of tartar.
Cook over medium heat until the mixture reaches the hard crack stage (when a drop in cold water becomes brittle).
Cool and pull
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Pull the candy for at least 1 hour until it becomes smooth and glossy.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Granulated sugar
- Forms the candy's sweet structure as the syrup cooks and hardens.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that helps prevent sugar crystals from forming, keeping the candy smooth.
The step that matters
Cooking to the hard crack stage. Sugar syrup must reach the hard crack stage to set firm once cooled. Stopping early leaves a soft, sticky candy, while going too far makes it brittle or burnt.
“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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