once upon a time when I had not long left my family home & was embarking on the world of cooking ...

The recipe said bring the sugar & water to the boil & boil for 5 mins (or similar time) so I brought it to the boil, & left to do something else.

Clouds of black smoke everywhere & I had a very interesting
mass of black stuff in my aluminium saucepan that looked something like
slag furnace steel - photo 2 result 1 dead saucepan

Well, it didn't say I needed to stir the boiling syrup ...