Caramel, or Burnt Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
Place the sugar in a saucepan over moderate heat.
Stir with a wooden spoon until it becomes liquid.
Continue stirring constantly until it turns dark brown.
Add the cold water.
Draw the pan to the side of the fire.
Let it simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Strain and store
Strain the mixture.
Bottle it for use.
Add a few drops to sauces for color as needed.
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
- Melts and browns to form the dark caramel that colors and flavors the liquid.
- Cold water
- Dilutes the dark caramel so it can be bottled as a liquid colouring.
The step that matters
Continue stirring constantly until it turns dark brown. Sugar can go from amber to burnt very quickly once it darkens. Constant stirring keeps the heat even so it browns without scorching and tasting bitter.
“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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