Caramel for Coloring Soups and Gravies
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
Melt the sugar with the water in a saucepan.
Stir until it turns dark brown.
Add the boiling water and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Store
Bottle the caramel for use once it cools.
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
- Caramelises to give the caramel its colour and deep, bittersweet flavour.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it melts evenly and can then be cooked to a dark brown.
- Boiling water
- Loosens the hardened caramel into a pourable liquid while it simmers.
The step that matters
Stir until it turns dark brown. Sugar darkens quickly once caramelised, and going past dark brown makes the caramel bitter and burnt-tasting. Watch the colour closely and stop at the right point.
“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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