Let's talk about caramel. I love caramel - its silky, sweet, buttery goodness pairs beautifully with all sorts of foods like nuts, coffee, cheeses, and more and it's the perfect ingredient to elevate a wide variety of recipes.
I've come to understand that a lot of people think that it's one of those things that's really difficult or only doable with extreme precision. One thing you'll find as I post more here is that I approach very little in the kitchen as a matter of extreme precision - that's just not my style of cooking. Caramel is no exception, and it's not as hard to make as many think!
One big thing about cooking for me (and I'm sure many of you) is that it's not just about making food. There are myriad elements that make it the critical part of my life that it has become - nourishing and showing love through cooking for others; quiet moments of solitude that allow for self-reflection or the joy of sharing culinary adventures with loved ones; the act of cooking as a mindfulness practice; and countless other reasons.
The last time I made caramel, it served me as an unexpected exercise in patience and gentleness with myself as well as a reminder of something that I consider to be an crucial part of not only the culinary experience, but of life in general - particularly as I work through the nuances of living with complex trauma:
It's not just okay, but necessary to allow some trust in ourselves.
Here's how it went:
On my first batch, I added the butter to the pot first. Watching the butter melt, I began feeling like things weren't quite right - until it suddenly hit me that I don't make caramel by adding the butter first! I considered attempting to adapt and add the sugar second, but anticipated that the extra agitation that it would take to incorporate the sugar has a good likelihood of causing the sugar to crystallize, so I decided against it. After a moment of deliberation and consultation with my better half, I decided to make a quick brown butter for later use and start over on the caramel.
On the second batch, my faith in my process and myself was shaken by my mistake the first time. I began melting the sugar, but was very nervous about how long I should let it brown - did it need to be light amber? Dark amber? Light brown? I attempted to go by the scent of the browning sugar, but I've never found that to be a method that works well for me, so I tried a taste-test of the browning sugar (carefully - see instructions below if you want to try that at home) It wasn't fully melted, so I let it melt and brown some more. After repeating this process several times, I got a whiff of burning sugar as I was cooling one of my taste-tests. I panicked, thinking I could possibly salvage the caramel (you usually can't), added the butter and cream, but I wasn't quick enough and the caramel was burnt.
On the third batch, I decided I would babysit the sugar more carefully - there was no way I could go wrong by putting even more effort into scrutinizing its every bubble, right? This time, I asked my partner to taste test the final caramel because I'd been testing it every few minutes so as not to allow any error to occur and could barely tell the difference between stages of browning anymore. Unfortunately, all of those tests in the middle had let the sugar go for too long again, and the caramel was yet again burnt, but to a lesser degree. This one was edible, at least and we decided to use it in coffee, where a slight smoky flavor would be complementary and even desirable.
Finally, on the fourth batch, I decided to give in, let go, and trust my instincts. While I say this like it's a simple yes/no choice, I know that many of you understand how difficult it can sometimes be to allow even a small action to just "go with the flow" in a moment of tension, anxiety, and strain with the desperate desire to force something to work. I watched the sugar as it melted, boiled, and browned, and judged based off of my knowledge and experience. I actively chose not to double, triple, and quadruple check for just the right level of browning before adding the dairy ingredients and this time it turned out! It wasn't burnt and we enjoyed it for its original purpose.
This annoying and frustrating process of multiply missing the mark was a good reminder of several things.
First, it's okay to make mistakes.
Our household takes food waste very seriously, so we choose to find used for the culinary adventures that don't quite work out as planned whenever possible, but it's also not the end of the world if you make an inedible dish once in a while and have to dispose of it. There's always better options than others for that like composting instead of throwing food away, but also remember to have grace with yourself - one wasted dish in your household isn't what's destroying the Earth. That's on corporations who actively choose to deprioritize sustainability and make it out to be the individual person's responsibility instead. But I'll get off my soapbox.
Another thing that this reminded of is that over-worrying and over-analyzing in the kitchen (and in life) can often be counter-productive. I absolutely understand that overthinking often isn't a choice; most of the time, that's just how my brain works. However, part of learning to live with that (for me) is learning how to counter it with calming, rational, loving, and gentle thought.
Cooking is a joy! Let it be that. Don't micromanage the caramel.
Before we get to the recipe, let me also take a second to say that caramel is very adaptable! I've made it with sugar substitutes, non-dairy alternatives, and more! I'll include some of these substitutions in my description below.
Some notes/disclaimers that will come with every recipe:
I often don't measure my ingredients (I know, I'm the worst, revoke my cooking card). Please feel free to check out my post here where I discuss how I hand-estimate measurements and I'll also provide approximations of measurements in this and every recipe in case that works better for you.
I don't believe there is one "right" way to cook nearly anything. I focus on safety of course, but outside of that I believe a lot of how we cook is up to our individual tastes and needs. Ingredient substitutions, alternate cooking methods, etc. are absolutely valid and are no "less correct" than another method/set of ingredients/etc. For more of my thoughts on that, see my post here.
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