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 ↓
Sugar Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Wet the sugar with cold water in a porcelain-lined saucepan.
Heat until the sugar dissolves.
Dissolve the cream of tartar in a spoonful of cold water and stir it into the mixture.
Boil the mixture until a bit hardens when dropped into cold water.
Finish and set
Remove the mixture from heat and stir in the vanilla.
Pour the mixture into greased pans and mark it into squares.
Set the squares aside to harden.
Alternatively, pull the candy into long ropes with buttered fingertips as it cools.
Let the candy cool completely until brittle before eating.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Forms the sweet body of the candy and sets firm as the syrup cools.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidity that helps prevent the sugar from crystallising into a grainy texture.
- Cold water
- Dissolves the sugar evenly before the syrup is boiled.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture until a bit hardens when dropped into cold water. Sugar candy firmness depends on how far the syrup is boiled. Too little boiling leaves it soft and sticky, while too much makes it hard and brittle. Testing a drop in cold water shows when it has reached the right stage.
“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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