Why it works: Sugar and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cocoanut Cream Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy
Combine the sugar and milk from the coconut in a saucepan.
Heat slowly until the sugar melts, then boil for 5 minutes.
Add the grated coconut and boil for an additional 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
Set and cut
Pour the mixture onto buttered plates and cut into squares.
Allow to harden for about 2 days.
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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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Granulated sugar
- Dissolves and cooks into the firm, sweet base that sets as the candy cools.
- Coconut milk
- Provides liquid that dissolves the sugar and adds moisture and richness to the candy.
- Grated coconut
- Adds texture and coconut flavour, and its fibre helps the candy thicken as it boils.
The step that matters
Stirring while the coconut boils. Once the grated coconut goes in, the sugar mixture is thick and hot enough to scorch on the pan bottom. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and keeps the sugar from burning, which would give a bitter flavour.
“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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