Chef TARA's corner of the internet

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Chef Tess, this one's for you!


Salted Caramels!!!


Fleur de Sel is salt that is hand-harvested from seabeds in Brittay, France.


The caramel has to be cooked to just the right temperature....

Ironically this recipe comes from one of my chocolate cookbooks (Yes, I collect chocoalte cookbooks. Why wouldn't I?!?), Chocolate Obsession.

Fleur de Sel Caramels
flavorless vegetable oil for the pan
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split horizontally
1 c heavy whipping cream
2 T corn syrup
1 T butter
1/2 t fleur de sel, in fine grains
  • Line the borrom of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper. lightly coat the paper and the sides of the pan with flavorless vegetable oil.
  • Put the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed pot. Use an unlined copper pot if you have one. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the pot. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring occaisionally with a wooden spoon, until the sugar melts. Then continue to cook, without stirring, until the sugar turns dark amber, 5 to 6 minutes. To check the color, dab a small amount of the syrup on a white plate. if any crystals form on the sides of the pan as teh sugar darkens, wash them down with a wet pastry brush.
  • While the sugar is cooking, bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the sugar is the correct shade, stir in the corn syrup. Remove the pot from the heat and put a sieve or splatter guard over it. Wearing an oven mitt, slowly pour the hot cream into the sugar syrup a little at a time. The mixture will sputter and foam. Be careful, as it is very hot.
  • When the bubbling subsides, return the pan to medium heat and cook undisturbed until the mixture registers 252 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, immediately add the butter, and stir with the wooden spootn. Add the salt and stir until evenly distributed.
  • Pour the caramel into the prepared pan and let cool at room temperature.

Labels: ,

1 Comments:

Blogger Chef Tess said...

Oh this makes my heart skip a beat! If you have any mercy you will have me over again for more salted caramels, but in the meantime, I now have the recipe...and all the ingredients including the salt! Hey I didn't know that the salt also comes from the same region that is famous for the Kouign Aman. Isn't that something... the celebration of opposites continues. I think we need to live in Brittany!

12/09/2008 10:14 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home