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 ↓
Sugar Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine the sugar, cold water, vinegar, and butter in a pot.
Boil without stirring until it begins to rope.
Pull the candy
As soon as it can be handled, pull the candy using only the tips of your fingers.
Pull rapidly and use very little grease on your hands.
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 + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 the sweetness and the bulk of the candy that sets as it cools.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that helps keep the sugar from crystallizing into a grainy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat that softens the candy and makes it easier to pull.
- Cold water
- Dissolves the sugar so the syrup cooks evenly before it thickens.
The step that matters
Boil without stirring until it begins to rope. Stirring can start sugar crystals forming, which makes the candy grainy. The syrup must reach the right point to rope: too little cooking leaves it sticky, and too much makes it hard and brittle when pulled.
“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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