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 ↓
Caramels
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the caramel
In a saucepan, combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cream or milk, and water.
Stir the mixture and boil it together for about 1 hour, being careful not to let it burn.
Set and cut
Pour the mixture into buttered dishes.
Before it cools, mark it into small squares with a knife.
Once cooled, cut the squares and wrap each in tissue paper.
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.
-
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
- Granulated sugar
- Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, builds the caramel flavor and firm body.
- Brown sugar
- Adds molasses flavor and moisture, giving a deeper, softer caramel.
- Cream or milk
- Adds fat and milk solids that make the caramel softer and creamier.
The step that matters
Boiling without burning. Sugar darkens quickly once it passes its caramelizing range, so scorched caramel turns bitter. Stirring and watching the heat keeps the sugars cooking evenly toward a smooth, sweet result.
“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.
More caramels recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.