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 ↓
Butter Scotch Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy
In a large pot, combine the New Orleans sugar, maple sugar, butter, water, and cream of tartar.
Boil the mixture until it reaches a hard crack stage, where a small piece can crack like glass.
Pour the hot candy onto a marble slab to cool.
Cut and store
Once cool enough to handle, cut the candy into sticks while it is still on the marble.
Wrap the sticks in paper for storage.
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.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- New orleans sugar
- Provides the main sweetness and bulk of the candy's body.
- Maple sugar
- Adds sweetness and a distinct maple aroma to the candy.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smoother, richer bite and softer texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidity that helps prevent sugar crystallizing, keeping the candy smooth.
The step that matters
Boiling to hard crack stage. Sugar must reach the hard crack temperature range so that, once cooled, the candy sets hard and brittle. Stopping early leaves a sticky, chewy result, while overcooking can scorch the sugar and give a bitter taste.
“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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