Caramel or Burnt Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
In a saucepan, combine 1 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of water.
Stir constantly over heat until the mixture turns a dark color.
Add ½ cup of water and a pinch of salt.
Let it boil for a few minutes.
Store
Once cooled, bottle the caramel for use in coloring soups, sauces, or gravies.
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
- Caramelizes on heat to a dark brown, giving colour and a toasted, bitter-sweet flavour.
The step that matters
Stirring over heat until dark. Sugar darkens quickly once it starts to caramelize, and it moves from deep amber to burnt and bitter within seconds. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly so the colour develops without scorching in one spot.
“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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