Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
Heat a saucepan over medium heat.
Add 4 tablespoons of white sugar and 1 tablespoon of water.
Stir continuously for 3-4 minutes until the water evaporates.
Watch carefully until the mixture turns a delicate brown color.
Make the sauce
Prepare 1 pint of cold water and mix it with 1 cup of sugar and flavoring.
Pour this mixture into the saucepan with the browned sugar.
Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Add ½ cup of brandy or wine if desired.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White sugar
- Caramelizes to form the brown colour and the sweet, toasty flavour of the sauce.
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the cold water to sweeten and thicken the liquid sauce as it simmers.
- Brandy or wine
- Adds acidity and aroma, rounding out the sweetness of the sauce.
The step that matters
Watch the browning sugar closely. Sugar goes from pale gold to bitter, dark brown within seconds once it caramelizes. Removing it at the right colour keeps the flavour sweet rather than burnt, and adding the cold liquid stops further browning.
“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 caramel sauce recipes
You might also like
Brandy Peaches68 recipes
Brandy Cream21 recipes
Brandy Pudding13 recipes
White Cake431 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.