Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
French Cream Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar, hot water, and cream of tartar in a pot.
Boil without stirring until it thickens and forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water.
Remove from heat and let it stand for 5 minutes.
Cream and knead
Pour onto a marble surface and stir with two knives until it begins to cream.
Knead with your hands until smooth.
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.
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 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 crystalline structure of the candy and provides its sweetness.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the syrup, helping prevent unwanted large sugar crystals for a smooth texture.
- Hot water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can form a clear syrup before boiling.
The step that matters
Boil without stirring. Stirring while the syrup boils can splash sugar onto the pot sides, where crystals can form and seed a grainy texture. Cooking to the soft-ball stage sets how firm the finished candy becomes.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.