Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Butter Scotch
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy
In a saucepan, combine sugar, butter, and molasses.
Boil the mixture until it becomes brittle when dropped in cold water.
Add the flavoring just before removing from heat.
Pour and set
Pour the mixture very thinly into buttered pans.
Allow to cool, then break into pieces.
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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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + molassestop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,123 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, when boiled, sets into a hard, brittle candy structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender bite in the finished candy.
- Molasses
- Adds deep flavor, color, and moisture, and contributes to the candy's sweetness.
The step that matters
Boil until brittle in cold water. Sugar syrup hardens as its water boils off. Stopping too early leaves a sticky, soft candy, while boiling too long can scorch the molasses and sugar, giving 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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