Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients
Directions
Make the fudge
In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, powdered chocolate, butter, and milk.
Boil the mixture until it thickens.
Remove from heat and beat until smooth.
Set and cut
Pour onto a buttered platter and let cool.
Once cool, cut into squares.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,543 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Brown sugar
- Provides sweetness and, as it dissolves and cooks, helps give the fudge its body.
- Powdered chocolate
- Supplies the chocolate flavour and colour of the fudge.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that dissolves the sugar and cooks down into a creamy base.
The step that matters
Beat until smooth after boiling. Beating while the cooked sugar mixture cools slightly encourages fine sugar crystals, which gives a smooth rather than grainy fudge.
“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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