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Dessert

Caramel

A sweet sauce made by boiling sugar, butter, cream, and chocolate until thick, then cooled and cut into squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Caramel

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Cut or scrape the chocolate and place it in a saucepan with the sugar, butter, and cream or milk.

  2. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat and beat well until your strength permits.

  4. Return to the fire and boil until thick enough to mold.

Set and cut

  1. Grease caramel pans and pour in the mixture after adding vanilla.

  2. When sufficiently hard, cut into squares.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Granulated sugar
Provides the sweetness and, when boiled, the body that sets the caramel firm.
Baker's chocolate
Adds rich flavour and deep colour, and helps the mixture thicken as it cooks.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, tender texture and a richer mouthfeel.
Cream or milk
Supplies moisture and milk solids that soften the sugar and give a creamy, chewy texture.

The step that matters

Return to the fire and boil until thick enough to mold. Sugar syrup firms as its water boils off and it cools. Stopping too early leaves the caramel soft and sticky, while boiling too long makes it hard and brittle.

“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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