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Dessert

Browning for Stock

A method to brown powdered sugar and dissolve it in water for coloring stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Browning for Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Place the sugar in a saucepan over low heat.

  2. Stir continuously until the sugar begins to melt and turns black.

  3. Add the water and let it dissolve.

Colour and store

  1. Store in a corked container and use a few drops as needed.

  2. For color, you can also use burnt onions or a piece of dark toasted bread in cold stock. Then heat it.

  3. Remove when the desired color is achieved.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Powdered sugar
Caramelizes when heated, giving the stock its dark color and sweet, bitter-edged flavor.

The step that matters

Stirring the sugar until it turns black. Sugar darkens quickly once it starts to melt, and past the right colour it turns bitter and burnt. Constant stirring keeps it melting evenly so it does not scorch in spots before the rest has caramelized.

“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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