Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Stir 1 cup of sugar over medium heat until melted and light brown.
Gradually add ½ cup of boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes.
Alternatively, melt sugar in a saucepan, add 1 pint of cream, and set over hot water until the caramel liquefies.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Melts and browns to form the caramel, giving the sauce its sweetness and deep flavor.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat, producing a smooth, creamy texture in the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the boiling water. Pour the boiling water in gradually, because hot liquid meeting very hot sugar can bubble up and spatter. Sugar cooked too far turns bitter, so stop once it is light brown.
“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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