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Dessert

Mock Maple Syrup

A syrup made from brown sugar, granulated sugar, boiling water, butter, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Mock Maple Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the brown sugar and boiling water for 10 minutes.

  2. Melt the granulated sugar in a frying pan until light brown.

  3. Carefully add the syrup to the melted sugar.

Finish the syrup

  1. Remove from heat, then add the butter and vanilla.

  2. If the syrup is too thick, thin it with boiling water.

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

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

  2. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, 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

Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deep, molasses-like maple flavor.
Granulated sugar
Caramelizes when melted, adding color, sweetness and toasty flavor.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother, richer mouthfeel.
Vanilla
Adds aroma that rounds out the sweet, caramel flavor.

The step that matters

Melting the granulated sugar until light brown. Sugar turns from light amber to burnt within seconds, and burnt sugar tastes bitter. Watch closely and remove it from heat at the first light brown colour.

“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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