I have an ice cream machine; summer is the peak season for ice cream – these are two known facts. I bought the machine in the summer of 2011, fully knowing that it would spend the summer in storage, while I camped out in a […]
really, this isn’t much of an experiment, as evidenced by a very robust thread about homemade vanilla on eGullet. however, it’s an experiment that’s new to me, so i’ve invested in vanilla beans – good quality, cheap beans from a seller on ebay (the […]
yeah, that was just my ploy to get you to read this. while i did just take a swig of milk that turned out to be curdled (really, whole foods? after a week?), this post is really about caramel. but first, let me tell you – curdled milk is disgusting. look before you leap, i guess.
i have made five batches of caramel things thus far – two sauces (to find the recipe, search for “caramel sauce” within this blog), and two batches of caramel candy. what’s not to love about caramel? chewy but soft, sweet but not tasting completely of sugar. well, tasting of caramelized sugar. lusciously caramelized sugar. i hadn’t ever made caramel before last weekend, beyond the occasional batch of melted sugar for cake decorations or creme caramel. caramel is special because in addition to the sugar, it includes cream and butter. and, dear readers, after three tries, i have attained success with caramels. the first batch was delicious, but so soft that it refused to part from the aluminum foil i poured it onto without a bit of a battle. i won the battle, but the caramel won the war because it was all lumpy and unattractive looking. but i guess i won the meta-war because i rolled it out onto my leftover ganache, and now it’s all cut up in a tupperware, waiting to be dipped in tempered chocolate. so HA, soft caramel. i win. (more…)