Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Ice Cream Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar and boiling water in a saucepan.
When the sugar begins to boil, add cream of tartar dissolved in a little boiling water.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Test by dropping some into cold water; if it hardens, add butter and remove from heat.
Set and pull
Pour onto a well-buttered platter.
When cool, pull the candy and flavor while working.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, 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 base and sets firm as the syrup cools.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that helps prevent the sugar from crystallizing into a grainy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a softer, smoother bite and helps keep the candy from sticking.
The step that matters
Testing by dropping syrup into cold water. The syrup must reach the right concentration before butter is added. Drops that harden in cold water show it has cooked enough; undercooked syrup stays soft and sticky, while overcooking makes the candy brittle.
“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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