Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Sugar Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Put two cupfuls of sugar and a half cupful of water into a saucepan on the fire.
Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Let it cook slowly without touching it for about ten minutes, or until it is a clear syrup.
Test and store
Boil to a thick consistency or register 32 degrees on the syrup gauge to keep well.
For parfaits, cook to a thinner consistency or register 20 degrees.
For water ices, cook to register 32 degrees.
If no syrup gauge, determine sweetness by taste.
Keep in preserve jars ready for use.
Use syrup to sweeten ice creams for smoothness.
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. See the original page.
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.
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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides the sweetness and, as it cooks, the thickness of the syrup.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can cook evenly into a clear syrup.
The step that matters
Cooking without stirring after the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved, stirring can encourage sugar crystals to form and turn the syrup grainy. Letting it cook undisturbed keeps it clear and smooth, and the cooking time sets how thick it becomes.
“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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