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 ↓
Black Currant Buttercups
Ingredients
Directions
Work the black currant jam, tartaric acid, and purple color into the fondant paste.
In a saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and cream of tartar. Boil until it reaches the crack stage. Remove from heat.
Work the mixture as previously described.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Black currant + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together67 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Black currant + sugartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together393 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Black currant jam
- Adds fruity flavour and a deep colour to the fondant.
- Fondant paste
- Forms the soft, smooth body of the sweet.
- White sugar
- Provides sweetness and, once boiled, the syrup that sets the fondant.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the syrup to help keep the sugar smooth and fine-grained.
- Tartaric acid
- Adds a sharp, tart note that balances the sweetness of the fondant.
The step that matters
Boiling to the crack stage. Sugar syrup must reach the correct temperature to set the fondant properly. Too little boiling leaves it soft and sticky, while overboiling makes it hard and brittle.
Swap the black currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Black currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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