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 ↓
Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients
Directions
Make the fudge base
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the chocolate; when melted, stir in the sugar and milk.
Cook until it reaches the soft ball stage.
Cool and finish
Remove from heat and cool undisturbed.
Beat vigorously until it loses its glossy appearance.
Pour quickly into a buttered pan and mark in squares.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Butter + chocolatetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,543 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + sugartop 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
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the melted chocolate and sets into the fudge's sweet, crystalline body as it cools.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smooth, tender texture and helps keep the fudge creamy.
- Bitter chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavor and firmness that gives the fudge its body.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and dairy solids that soften the texture and balance the sugar.
The step that matters
Beat vigorously after cooling. Beating too early or too late changes the sugar crystals. Beating once the mixture has cooled and lost its gloss encourages fine, small crystals, giving a smooth rather than grainy fudge.
“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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