Burnt Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the burnt sugar
Place an old tin ladle over a sharp fire with 2 ounces of loaf sugar.
Stir with a stick or skewer until it is thoroughly black and burnt.
Add ½ cup of water little by little, stirring a little.
Boil for about 4 minutes, but do not let it boil over.
Strain and store
Strain the mixture and let it cool.
Bottle it for later use.
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
- Loaf sugar
- Caramelises over direct heat to give the burnt sugar its dark colour and bitter, smoky flavour.
- Water
- Dissolves the caramelised sugar into a pourable liquid that can be stored.
The step that matters
Adding the water. The caramel is very hot and can spatter or seize when water is added. Adding the water little by little and stirring keeps the mixture under control and helps the hardened sugar dissolve evenly.
“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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