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Dessert

Nut Fudge

Nut Fudge is a sweet confection made with sugar, chocolate, butter, cream, walnuts, and flavoring.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Nut Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, chocolate, butter, and cream.

  2. Boil slowly until the mixture hardens when dropped into water.

  3. Pour the mixture into a platter.

  4. Add chopped walnuts and flavoring.

  5. Beat until thickened.

Set and serve

  1. Cool.

  2. Cut into pieces.

  3. Serve.

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.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  4. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (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

White sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, forms the firm sugar structure of the fudge.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and fat that help give the fudge its rich body.
Cream
Adds moisture and fat, making the fudge softer and smoother than sugar alone.
Butter
Adds fat for smooth texture and richer flavor.
Walnuts
Add crunch and nutty flavor that contrast with the smooth fudge.

The step that matters

Boil slowly until the mixture hardens when dropped into water. Sugar concentration determines the final texture. Boiling too briefly leaves the fudge soft and runny, while overcooking makes it hard and grainy. The cold-water test shows when the sugar has reached the right concentration.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Filbertfits better
  3. Hazelnutfits better
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, chocolate, butter, cream. 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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