Name: Chococate Caramels
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; ⅓ cup glucose; ½ cup best New Orleans molasses; very little water; butter (size of a walnut); 1 lump chocolate

Why it works: Walnut and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,548 recipes. Both carry 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

Chococate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

In a large saucepan, combine water, milk, and molasses, then add sugar until dissolved.
Add the lump of chocolate as soon as the mixture begins to boil.
Once the chocolate has melted, add the butter and remove the spoon; do not stir.
To test, wet your forefinger and dip it into the boiling chocolate, then plunge it into a cup of cold water.
When the candy hardens to the breaking point in the water, it is ready to remove from heat.
Quickly pour the mixture into a buttered tin, avoiding drips or scraping the saucepan to prevent sugar formation.
Pour any leftover mixture into a separate dish to test for sugar formation.
Start with half the recipe to learn when it is ready to take off the fire.
Once cool, 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.

Walnut + chocolatetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,548 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + walnuttop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,832 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter + chocolatetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,543 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, butter, chocolate):

Almondfits better
Pecansfits about as well
Peanutfits about as well
Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, butter, chocolate. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.