Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓
Butter Scotch
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy
Combine sugar, butter, and cream in a saucepan.
Cook over medium heat until the mixture snaps when tested in cold water.
Pour and cut
Pour into buttered pans.
Cut into small squares before it cools completely.
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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Butter + creamtop 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
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, once cooked, sets firm and brittle as it cools.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, softening the candy's texture so it is less harsh.
- Cream
- Adds milk solids and moisture that give the candy a creamier, less brittle texture.
The step that matters
Cook until the mixture snaps in cold water. The sugar concentration reached during cooking sets the final texture. Stop early and the candy stays soft and sticky; go too far and it turns hard or bitter.
“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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