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Vassar Fudge

A fudge made with brown sugar, chocolate, milk, butter, and shredded coconut.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Vassar Fudge

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Vassar Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge

  1. In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, chocolate, milk, and butter.

  2. Boil the mixture, stirring to prevent burning, until it hardens when dropped in cold water.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in shredded coconut.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture onto buttered tins.

  2. Once cool, cut into squares.

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.

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.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Chocolate + coconuttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 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

Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and bulk, and helps the fudge set firm as it cooks.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavour and richness to the fudge.
Milk
Supplies moisture and milk solids that give the fudge a softer, creamier texture.
Butter
Adds fat for smoothness and a rich mouthfeel.
Shredded coconut
Adds chewy texture and a coconut flavour to the fudge.

The step that matters

Boiling until it hardens in cold water. The sugar concentration rises as water boils off, and the fudge sets firmly as it cools. Removing it too early leaves it soft, while cooking too long makes it grainy or hard. Stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the pan.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, chocolate, milk, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutthe original
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Peachfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, chocolate, milk, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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