Why it works: Sugar and cassia work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 211 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Candied Cassia
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Powder enough brown cassia to equal the weight of two shillings.
Make the candy
Boil the sugar until it reaches candy height.
Mix the powdered cassia, musk, and ambergris into the boiled sugar.
Pour the mixture into thinly buttered saucers.
Allow to cool, then remove from saucers.
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 + cassiatop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together211 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Forms the candy mass when boiled, setting firm as it cools.
- Brown cassia
- Supplies the main spice flavour and aroma to the candy.
- Musk
- Adds a warm, lingering perfume aroma to the candy.
- Ambergris
- Adds a musky, long-lasting perfume aroma to the candy.
The step that matters
Boil the sugar until it reaches candy height. Sugar must reach the correct concentration to set firm when cooled. Under-boiled sugar stays soft and sticky, while over-boiled sugar turns bitter and brittle.
“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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