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Dessert

Caramel for Custards

A caramel sauce made by melting brown sugar with hot water and simmering until clear.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Caramel for Custards

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Place ½ pound of brown sugar in a small iron kettle.

  2. Heat gradually, stirring with a knife until melted and smooth.

  3. Add hot water slowly, mixing thoroughly.

  4. Let it simmer for a few minutes.

  5. Scrape down the sugar from the sides.

  6. Stir in the remaining 1 pound of sugar and let it dissolve.

  7. Boil until clear.

Chill and serve

  1. Chill on ice.

  2. Serve over cold steamed custard.

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

What each ingredient does

Brown sugar
Provides the sweetness and caramel flavor, and forms the body of the sauce.
Hot water
Dissolves the sugar and thins the mixture into a pourable sauce.

The step that matters

Heat gradually, stirring until melted and smooth. Slow heating lets the sugar melt evenly without scorching at the bottom of the kettle. Stirring helps dissolve the crystals so the sauce stays smooth rather than grainy.

“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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