SC - Butterscotch flavor

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Huette von Ahrens wrote:
> 
> Thank you for this recipe.  I guess I must be naive or
> something, because my recipe for butterscotch sauce
> calls for both butter and scotch ...
> 
> Huette

I don't know if naive is the right word, but, um, there's something
going on. Okay, I guess what we're seeing is some kind of evolution
happening here.

I don't have a Comprehensive History of Confectionery or anything, but
it's my impression that Butterscotch, the candy, comes under the heading
of a toffee, because it has butter stirred into the caramel. This
produces a fairly hard, but still slightly chewy product, something like
the inside of a Heath Bar. In short, a toffee.

A butterscotch _sauce_, however, doesn't need that texture, and there is
a fairly long tradition of making soft caramels with cream, along the
lines of a Kraft Caramel. Anyway, since cream, in quantity, added to
caramel syrup, adds pretty much the same chemicals that butter would, if
in different proportions, I don't know how much difference it makes.

Now, I agree the addition of whiskey is probably a good thing, but for
an industry-aimed source like Gisslen's "Professional Baking" I can
understand why it might be omitted. Still, there's no guarantee that
Butterscotch's Standard of Identity is based on its name, and perhaps no
corresponding law that says Butterscotch needs to contain butter and
Scotch. I wonder if perhaps it is a toffee made with butter, then
"scotched" into squares in the pan as it cools. I offer this alternate
explanation not because I know, but because I don't.

Maybe this would be a good time to look through 19th-century English and
American cookbooks, and look for The Oldest Known Recipe.
 
Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com