Burnt Cream Sauce

A dry caramel loosened with cream — two ingredients and about five minutes of attention. The only real difficulty is knowing when to stop cooking the sugar.

• Quantities in modern termsTwo ounces of sifted sugar is about 55 g, or 4 level tablespoons of caster sugar. A gill is 5 fl oz imperial, a little over half a US cup. The finished sauce comes to a little more than the volume of the cream — a small quantity, enough for a few servings of pudding.
• "Thin cream"Victorian thin cream corresponds roughly to modern single cream, around 18 per cent butterfat, though the term was not standardised; half-and-half is the nearest US equivalent. Whipping or double cream will give a much heavier sauce that stiffens considerably when cold.
• The hinge: stop the caramel earlySugar goes from amber to acrid in a matter of seconds, and "quite brown" is already close to the edge. Pull the pan off the heat the moment it is the colour of a copper penny; the residual heat carries it a shade further.
• Warm the cream firstCold cream hitting molten sugar seizes it into a lump and throws scalding steam. Heat the cream to just below a simmer and add it in a thin thread, off the heat, stirring throughout.
• Use a heavy panA thin saucepan scorches the sugar in patches before the rest has melted. Choose the heaviest small pan you have, and swirl rather than beat while the sugar liquefies — stirring dry sugar hard tends to drive crystals up the sides.
• If it lumpsAny hardened caramel will dissolve back into the cream over low heat with patience. Keep it below a boil and strain if a few flecks remain.
• ServingIt thickens noticeably as it cools. Serve just warm over baked custard, batter pudding or plain sponge; it keeps three or four days refrigerated and loosens again with gentle reheating.