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Dessert

American Fudge

A chocolate fudge made with sugar, milk, butter, walnuts.

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

American Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Roughly chop the chocolate.

Make the fudge

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

  2. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently for about 30 minutes.

  3. To test, drop a small amount into cold water; it should form a soft ball.

  4. Remove from heat, add walnuts, and beat until it begins to thicken.

Set and cut

  1. Pour into a greased tin.

  2. Cut into pieces when cold.

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

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

  5. Walnut + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it dissolves and cooks, the structure that sets the fudge.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavour and fat, giving the fudge its richness and colour.
Milk
Supplies liquid and milk solids that give the fudge a softer, creamier texture.
Butter
Adds fat for smoothness and a rich mouthfeel.
Walnuts
Add crunch and nutty flavour against the soft fudge.

The step that matters

Testing the soft ball stage. Sugar syrup set by boiling to the right concentration determines the fudge's firmness. Too little cooking leaves it soft and runny; too much makes it hard and grainy. The cold-water test checks this before removing it from heat.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Cocoafits better
  3. Pecansfits better
  4. Walnutthe original

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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