Name: To Prevent Granulation in Boiling Sugar
Ingredients: 5-6 drops lemon juice or vinegar; 1 teaspoon honey; a very small bit of butter or salad oil; dissolved citric acid or cream of tartar (optional)

Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓

To Prevent Granulation in Boiling Sugar

Ingredients

5-6 drops lemon juice or vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
a very small bit of butter or salad oil
dissolved citric acid or cream of tartar (optional)

Directions

As the sugar boils, wipe the sides of the pot with a cloth wet in cold water.
Add 5-6 drops of lemon juice or vinegar, or a small amount of butter, salad oil, or honey.
Do not stir the sugar while it is boiling.
Use the fat or acid in very small amounts to keep the sugar smooth.
Keep the sides of the pot clean with the wet cloth.

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Honey + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,327 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Lemon + honeytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,707 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Honey + creamtop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together738 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).