Caramel or Burnt Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the sugar
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.
Boil for a few minutes, then let it cool.
Finish
Once cooled, bottle the caramel.
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 when heated, building the dark color, toasty flavor and sweetness of the caramel.
The step that matters
Stirring over heat until dark. Sugar darkens quickly at high heat, and it can move from rich amber to bitter and burnt within seconds. Constant stirring keeps the heat even so the color develops uniformly and the caramel does not scorch 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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