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Dessert

Butter Scotch Candy

A candied confection made from brown sugar, butter, vinegar, water, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 Candy

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine brown sugar, butter, vinegar, water, and baking soda.

  2. Boil the mixture for half an hour.

  3. To test for doneness, drop a small amount into hot water; if it becomes crisp, the candy is ready.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and the molasses flavour that gives the candy its colour.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the candy a smooth, tender bite.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the mixture to lighten the candy and soften its texture.

The step that matters

Testing for doneness. Sugar candy sets according to how far its water has boiled off. Testing a small drop in cold or hot water shows whether it has reached the crisp stage, so the candy does not turn out too soft or too hard.

“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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