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Frosted Codlins, Served in Different Ways

Codlins boiled, skinned, buttered, and sugared, then baked until sugar crystallizes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Frosted Codlins, Served in Different Ways

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the codlins

  1. Boil the codlins slowly in spring water with a little purified alum.

  2. Remove them when they rise, then skin them.

Frost and bake

  1. Rub the codlins with clarified butter.

  2. Sift a generous amount of loaf sugar over them.

  3. Place them in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until the sugar crystallizes.

  4. Optionally, remove them halfway through and sprinkle with more sugar.

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 + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Codlins
Fruit that is the base of the dish, softened by slow boiling and then coated with sugar.
Loaf sugar
Forms the frosted crust as it dries and crystallizes in the oven, adding sweetness.
Clarified butter
Coats the fruit so the sugar adheres evenly and the surface can brown lightly.
Purified alum
Firms the fruit's flesh during boiling so it holds its shape.

The step that matters

Placing the codlins in the slow oven until the sugar crystallizes. Sugar on the fruit can melt, darken or stay damp if the heat is too high or the fruit is removed too early. A low, steady oven lets the surface dry and crystallize into a frosted coat.

“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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