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Dessert

Butter Scotch

A brittle candy made from molasses, sugar, vinegar, boiling water, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Butter Scotch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. Combine molasses, sugar, vinegar, boiling water, and butter in a saucepan.

  2. Boil the mixture until it becomes brittle when tested in cold water.

Set and cut

  1. Pour into well-buttered tins and 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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Molasses + vinegartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,253 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Provides dark color, deep flavor, and moisture that gives the candy its chewy character.
Sugar
Sweetness, and as it cooks it sets the candy's firm, brittle structure.
Vinegar
Acidity that helps prevent sugar from crystallizing, keeping the candy smooth.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender, smooth texture in the finished candy.

The step that matters

Boil until brittle in cold water. The candy sets by cooking sugar to a high concentration. Underheating leaves it sticky and soft, while overheating makes it bitter and burnt. Testing in cold water shows when enough water has boiled off.

“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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