Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Butter Scotch
Ingredients
Directions
Boil sugar, water, vinegar, and butter together.
Continue boiling until the mixture becomes brittle in cold water.
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 + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,513 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Forms the brittle candy structure and provides sweetness as it cooks down.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that helps keep the sugar from recrystallizing into grainy candy.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer flavor and a smoother bite in the finished candy.
The step that matters
Boiling to the brittle stage. The candy sets hard only once enough water has boiled off and the sugar concentration is high enough. Stopping too early leaves a sticky, chewy result, while going too far can scorch the sugar and taste bitter. Checking by dropping a little into cold water tells the cook when it is ready.
“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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