I tried to make a caramel by boiling sugar and water. What I got was just boiled sugar and water. A clear solution that never turned brown.
Then, I mixed 1/2 stick butter with the sugar with some water, and got...caramel.
However, in looking up other recipes calling for caramel, it's stated to just boil sugar and water.
Thus, my question is, can you get caramel just from boiling sugar and water?
Thanks, Gary
Of course Gary. It just has to boil all the water away and reach=20 temperature.
145 o C =3D 293 o F =3D 115 o R--=20 Sincerly,
C=3D=A6-)=A7 H. W. Hans Kuntze, CMC, S.g.K. (_o_)
It depends on what you want in a caramel. If you want the soft, smooth caramel that typically has a buttery flavour and that you cut into cubes, then you want the type with butter added. Butter yields a richer, silkier kind of caramel.
If, OTOH, you want the harder, chewy caramel you often use for coating things, or that you cut into strips, then the sugar/water method is the way to go. You need to boil it for a while, because the objective is to drive out all the water. So you just wait while it boils (and it will boil with great ferocity) and then starts to change colour. Take it off when it's just a little less brown than what you want. Pour it *immediately* because it hardens fast. Also, as soon as you've poured and spread or coated, fill the pot with warm water or you'll have a sticky mess to remove from it.
(Please NOTE: My correct e-mail address is in my Signature) On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 22:39:48 -0000, during the rec.food.baking Community News Flash snipped-for-privacy@nwnotlink.NOSPAM.com (Alex Rast) reported:
I've seen chefs on TV do the hard one without adding any water to the sugar at all. Perhaps that was the mistake here - adding water to the sugar for melting stage, which will only give you a sugar syrup and not a caramel. Adding butter or water after its liquid and brown will change the consistency for the type of use you want.
(And add no water if you want to make spun caramel, just cool it down a bit by putting the pan into a bigger pan with cold water for about 2 seconds.)
There's also flash carmelization.
For some reason my mother decided years ago she needed to master the art of flash carmelization. And then after she had, didn't bother with it again. But i was present for many of her attempts.
Basically, it depended on having a large cast iron skillet hotter than the sun, and having very quick hands.
She'd wait until the pan was just hot enough, throw the dry sugar into it while swirling the pan. the sugar would make it about half way around the pan before turning liquid, and before it had gone full circle she was scooping it out into a cooler pan. The sugar was in the pan maybe half a second. It was a sight to see.
Of course, she also made several pans full of black carbon ash before she got the hang of it.
- Eric
Isn't 145°C a little cool for caramel? I mean, that's like soft crack. Caramel is hotter than hard crack, and ranges from 160°C for light caramel to about 190°C for dark caramel. (well over 300°F).
The book is out in the car, and my happy butt is sitting here after a
10-hour shift, so I will refer you to your copy of Cookwise by Shirley Corriher, pp.422-25 for the physics, and a candy thermometer for the temps. (I just made 2 batches of caramel less than 3 hours ago using one, so I am positive of the temps in °C). "Caramel" starts at 160°C.Butter caramel, you can or not, it's up to you. Corriher says butter caramel is harder to make. Maybe there's something there I haven't learned yet, but I've not had trouble with mine (probably just ignorant of any trickiness so luck just plays out).
When you start with the wet method--sugar and water--it is easier to control the rate at which the sugar heats up. Light caramel will be more brittle when cooled than will dark caramel, and the dark caramel will absorb more moisture from the air due to the greater quantities of fructose. Anyway, before the sugars start to caramelize, the water will all boil off leaving you with only melted sucrose.
I do a type of butter caramel--toffee--by putting heavy cream, sweet butter, and sugar in a pot and cooking it to color all together. The whey from the butter and cream all evaporate before it's done, and it comes out like the center of a Heath bar. I break it up into bits with a mezzaluna then fold it into coffee ice-cream. Yum! (For the ice-cream, I steep decaf grounds in with the cream in the first step, add cocoa before liaison and finish normally).
Anyway, for a chewy caramel, cook the sugar (using that $15 candy thermometer) to the desired darkness (the darker, the softer, so go lighter), and then add some heavy cream off the fire a little at a time, letting the whey steam off. And be careful of splatters! It will spit and sputter and hiss for awhile, and even double in volume--this is normal. Put a drop onto a small something and stick it in the fridge to cool. Once cool, taste it for texture. If it wants to pull fillings out, add a little more cream. Too much cream and you have a caramel sauce.
Have fun, I am bushed.
Of course Gary. It just has to boil all the water away and reach temperature.
145 o C = 293 o F = 115 o R
No, there are various stages of caramel and it has to do with, the=20 boiling away of moisture, conversion of the sugar, so it does not=20 recrystallize and secondarily,color. It starts clear, used for pouring, blowing or spinning and ends with=20 couleur, for coloring. Anything beyond is carbon.
145 is the beginning of caramel, clear, the end of hard crack.Since there is so much residual heat remaining, seconds count, you=20 will have to remove it from the fire at a slightly lower temp,=20 otherwise you have burnt sugar, regardless if you set the pot in=20 water (good luck and good accident coverage) or not.
Unfortunately I have the sugartemps only in german from the pastry=20 chefs handbook, but thermometers work the same the world over.
Also, caramel has nothing to do with butter or cream, it is just a=20 stage when boiling sugar, used for many things and can have color or=20 not and butter and/or cream added for some candies/sauces, etc.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D REZKONV-Rezept - RezkonvSuite v0.96f
Titel: ZUCKER - KOCHGRADE - VERWENDUNG - INFO Kategorien: Zucker, Wei=DF, Raffinade Menge: 1 Info
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D QUELLE =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Hermann Gr=FCner Fachw=F6rterbuch der K=FCche Erfasst : *RK* 16.05.01 von Micha Eppendorf Formatiert von: H.W.Hans Kuntze, CMC
Menge nach Rezept
Zuckerkochen: Beim Zuckerkochen werden die Zuckerkristalle unter Einwirkung von W=E4rme in Waser gel=F6st. Unreinheiten setzen sich am Rand des Kochgeschirrs ab und werden mit einem Pinsel entfernt. Diesen Vorgang nennt man L=E4utern. man erh=E4lt L=E4uterzucker. Wird die=
Zuckerl=F6sung weiter erhitzt, verdampft nach und nach Wasser, die L=F6sung wird konzentrierter, bis schlie=DFlich beim Karamel alles Wasser verdampft ist. Mit steigender Konzentration der L=F6sung steigt die Temperatur. In der Praxis ist darum die Temperatur der L=F6sung der Indikator f=FCr die Konzentration. Der Zusammenhang zwischen der Konzentration der Zuckerl=F6sung und den Verwendungsm=F6glichkeiten wird in den Zuckerkochgraden ausgedr=FCckt.
oC: Grad Celsius; oF: Grad Fahrenheit; oR: Grad Reaumur
100 oC =3D 212 oF =3D 80 oR Zuckerkochgrad: L=E4uterzucker Verwendung: :Verd=FCnnen von Glasuren, Herstellen von Fruchteis, Tr=E4nken f=FCr Torten.105 oC =3D 221 oF =3D 84 oR Zuckerkochgrad: Schwacher Faden. :Zwischen Daumen und Zeigefinger Verwendung: Herstellen von Belegfr=FCchten
108 oC =3D 226,4 oF =3D 86 oR Zuckerkochgrad: Starker Faden :Verwendung: Glasieren von Dickzuckerfr=FCchten; Kochschokolade112 oC =3D 223,6 oF =3D 90 oR Zuckerkochgrad: Schwacher Flug :Verwendung: warme Schaummassen; gebrannte Mandeln
118 oC =3D 244,4 oF =3D 94 oR Zuckerkochgrad: Starker Flug :Verwendung: Fondantbereitung125 oC =3D 257 oF =3D 100 oR Zuckerkochgrad: Ballen. :Zwischen den Fingern l=E4sst sich Zucker ballenartig/kugelartig formen Verwendung: Bonbonherstellung (Sahnekaramellen)
135 oC =3D 275 oF =3D 108 oR Zuckerkochgrad: Bruch. :Eingetauchtes Holzst=E4bchen abk=FChlen lassen und biegen. Anhaftender Zucker bricht Verwendung: Bonbonherstellung145 oC =3D 293 oF =3D 115 oR Zuckerkochgrad: Karamel. :Zucker ist noch farblos und klar Verwendung: Gezogener und geblasener Zucker
148 oC =3D 298 oF =3D 118 oR Zuckerkochgrad: Karamel. :Zucker ist noch farblos und klar Verwendung: Gegossener Zucker155+ oC =3D 311 oF =3D 124 oR Zuckerkochgrad: Kul=F6r, Couleur. :Zucker br=E4unt Verwendung: Mit Wasser abgel=F6scht und losgekocht zur Farbgebung bei Glasuren und Cremes.
Anmerkung Formatierer: Bei 150 C f=E4ngt der Karamel an, erst farblos, dann dunkler, das geht bis 190 C, wo der Zucker verkohlt.
Du f=E4ngst immer mit 3 Teilen oder 2 Teilen (Gewicht/Volumen) Zucker und 1 Teil Wasser an, je nach belieben und eventuell etwas Zitronens=E4ure oder Weinstein oder Glucose damit der Zucker fl=FCssig bleibt und nicht wieder nach dem abk=FChlen kristallisiert.
Manche Konditoren m=F6gen 3 zu 1 und manche 2 zu 1.
Dann wird der Zucker gel=E4utert (gekl=E4rt) und Du hast einfachen Syrup.=
Dann wird das auf die verschiedenen Grade eingekocht, bis zum Caramel.
Ohne das mit der Zuckerwaage (Reaumur) oder dem Thermometer (Fahrenheit oder Celsius) oder durch beobachten (Augenma=DF und Handgewicht) zu messen ist nicht m=F6glich.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
--=20 Sincerly,
C=3D=A6-)=A7 H. W. Hans Kuntze, CMC, S.g.K. (_o_)
Well, first, there's two different kinds of caramel. One is creamy and has dairy. The other is essentially caramelized sugar. The first one you made, it sounds as if your ratio of water to sugar was too high and you didn't cook it long enough. The water is only there to control the rate at which the sugar melts, then caramelizes. All of the water must evaporate before the sugar caramelizes, so the more water you have, the longer this will take.
kimberly
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