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Dessert

Caramel or Burnt Sugar

A sweet syrup made by boiling sugar with water until it darkens.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Caramel or Burnt Sugar

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar and 2 teaspoons of water.

  2. Stir constantly over heat until it turns dark brown.

  3. Add ½ cup of water and a pinch of salt.

  4. Let it boil for a few minutes.

Cool and store

  1. Once cooled, bottle it for use in coloring soups, sauces, or gravies.

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

Sugar
Caramelizes when heated, browning to give the caramel its dark color and deep, bittersweet flavor.

The step that matters

Stirring over heat until dark brown. Sugar darkens quickly once it passes the amber stage, so it can go from colored to burnt within seconds. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and prevents scorching.

“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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