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Dessert

Fudge— No. 1

A simple chocolate fudge made by cooking sugar, chocolate, milk or cream, and vanilla until thick, then poured into pans and cooled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Fudge— No. 1

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge

  1. Combine all ingredients in a skillet.

  2. Cook over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat and beat the mixture until it thickens.

  4. Stir in the vanilla.

Set and cut

  1. Pour into buttered pans.

  2. Once cool, cut into blocks.

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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks and cools, forms the crystals that give fudge its body.
Grated chocolate
Supplies the main flavor and cocoa fat that helps the fudge firm as it cools.
Milk or cream
Adds liquid and milk solids that give a creamy, softer texture.

The step that matters

Beat the mixture after removing it from the heat. Beating while the mixture cools encourages small sugar crystals, which give smooth fudge. Beating too early or too long can make it grainy or hard.

“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.

More fudge recipes

Chocolate 85Maple 38Cake 30Marshmallow 18Divinity 15Peanut Butter 13 See all 48 →

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