Name: Corn-balls
Ingredients: ½ cup molasses; ½ cup sugar; ½ cup water; 1 tablespoon butter (about the size of a walnut)

Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Corn-balls

Ingredients

½ cup molasses
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
1 tablespoon butter (about the size of a walnut)

Directions

In a saucepan, combine molasses, sugar, and water.
Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.
Add the butter and stir until melted.
Continue to cook until the mixture reaches a thick consistency.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly before shaping into balls.

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.

Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + walnuttop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,832 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + walnuttop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,147 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Molasses + walnuttop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together560 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).