Sweet, sticky and bitter
Martha Holmberg shares her tips for making the perfect caramel sauce.
Agood caramel sauce starts sweet and finishes just short of bitter. For me, bitterness is the key as it prevents it from being cloyingly sweet. Another brilliant aspect is its simplicity. Anyone can make it anywhere, because all you need is sugar, heat and a final liquid. And while I do add salt and vanilla extract . . . and, OK, a few chunks of butter, caramel’s complexity comes from chemistry.
Let’s look at the basic process: boiling, melting, burning (almost), enriching.
Boiling: Involves evaporating all the water in the sugar to yield pure sucrose that can get hot enough to melt. Paradoxically, I begin by adding water to the sugar. This method, called a ‘‘wet’’ caramel, ensures a more even caramelisation.
For the ‘‘dry’’ caramel method, simply heat the sugar in an empty pan until melted and caramelised. It’s quick and direct, but the risk is that some parts of the sugar melt faster than others and can burn before the rest have made it even to light amber. Make the dry method work by swirling the melting sugar gently and strategically for a uniform result.
Choose a pot with a heavy base to help prevent hot spots and one with high enough sides to contain the caramel sauce as it bubbles. Please be aware that caramel at all stages is sticky and extremely hot, so be super careful.
Melting: During this phase, you’ll be jousting with the forces of crystallisation. As the sugar liquefies, a crystal can reform and begin a domino effect which will produce a chunky mess. There are many techniques to avoid crystallisation and I’ve tried all of them.
Crystallisation is rare with any sugar method but it occasionally happens no matter, so I don’t stress about it. Don’t worry. Keep cooking it. Those new crystals will eventually melt again and start behaving.
Burning/not burning: Once the melting begins, good things occur. Your granulated sugar, or sucrose, breaks down into glucose and fructose, which then recombine to form hundreds of new compounds, including three called caramelan, caramelen and caramelin, and I find that oddly charming.
All the newly developed molecules contribute specific flavour notes to the complex caramel profile, including nutty furans, buttery diacetyl and toasty maltol. Toffee, anyone?
Once it starts, the caramelisation process moves very fast and is irreversible. This means you need to have your liquid enriching ingredient, which will cool down the sugar, measured and ready to deploy. And you must pay attention as you cook, using sight and smell.
You may not achieve your personal caramel perfection the
first time you make the sauce because, unfortunately, you can’t taste for doneness (do NOT be tempted to swipe your finger through the hot caramel for an exploratory lick). So perhaps err on the lighter side until you’re comfortable with finding that edge. If you decide that your finished caramel sauce is too sweet, you can always cook another 1⁄4 cup of sugar to a darker stage and whisk your sauce into it, for a boost of bitter.
Visually, strive for a very deep amber colour, like that of strong iced tea. The aroma will go from candy floss sugary to nutty with a tiny bit of burnt sugar; the latter is the moment to stop the temperature climb by adding liquid.
Enriching: Most caramel sauces and confections use cream for this, but there’s no law saying dairy has to be involved.
Once you have your liquid caramel, it’s time to enrich the flavour. The classic additions are cream, vanilla and salt. But creme fraiche instead of cream, a splash of dark rum and a drop of almond extract are all delicious options. I like to finish my caramel sauce with butter, to lock in a satiny texture.
Caramel sauce keeps in the refrigerator for up to a month, and it freezes well for about three months.