Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Smith College Fudge
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
In a separate dish, mix the brown sugar, molasses, and cream.
Add the mixture to the melted butter and bring to a boil.
Continue boiling for 2½ minutes while stirring rapidly.
Add the ground chocolate and boil for 5 minutes, stirring rapidly and reducing speed toward the end.
Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and chopped walnuts.
Stir constantly until the mixture thickens.
Pour into buttered pans and set in a cool place.
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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Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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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Vanilla + walnuttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,730 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Brown sugar
- Provides sweetness and moisture, and contributes to the fudge's soft, chewy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat that gives the fudge a smooth, rich texture.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture that help create a smooth, creamy texture.
- Ground chocolate
- Adds chocolate flavor and body to the mixture.
- Molasses
- Adds depth of flavor, color and extra moisture.
The step that matters
Continue boiling while stirring rapidly. Fudge depends on sugar reaching the right concentration through boiling, and constant stirring prevents scorching on the bottom and keeps the sugar from crystallizing unevenly, which affects smoothness.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, molasses, cream, chocolate, vanilla):
- Almondfits better
- Hazelnutfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, cream, chocolate, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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