Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
In a saucepan, combine sugar and butter; cook over medium heat until browned, but do not burn.
Finish the sauce
Add boiling water and stir until well dissolved.
If desired, add vanilla or brandy for flavor.
For a thicker sauce, omit flour and use cornstarch or sweet cream instead of water.
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.
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and the deep brown colour and flavour when it caramelizes.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the sugar brown smoothly in the pan.
- Water
- Dissolves the caramelized sugar into a pourable sauce.
The step that matters
Browning the sugar and butter without burning. Sugar darkens quickly once it starts to caramelize, and past the right colour it turns bitter. Stopping at golden brown gives a rich, sweet flavour.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillathe original
- Figfits less well
- Lemonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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