Name: Ice Cream Candy
Ingredients: 1 cup water; 1 teaspoon cream of tartar; Flavoring (to taste); Butter (size of a nutmeg)

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ice Cream Candy

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Flavoring (to taste)
Butter (size of a nutmeg)

Directions

Combine water and cream of tartar in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil without stirring for about 25 minutes.
Test by dropping a small amount into cold water; it should harden.
Remove from heat and work the mixture immediately.
Add flavoring while pulling the candy.

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.

Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,920 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).