36
votes
Accepted
How do I safely caramelize honey without fully burning it?
A candy thermometer is pretty much always the answer when it comes to candymaking, which includes caramelizing sugar.
Assuming the soft ball stage is indeed the best for brewing, all you have to do ...
19
votes
Accepted
What is the real temperature to caramelize sugar?
a lot of recipes caramelize sugar in a simmering water.
Calling the solution "simmering water" isn't a good characterization. The boiling point of pure water is 100C. But the boiling point rises ...
12
votes
How do I safely caramelize honey without fully burning it?
In the event that you aren't keen on buying/using a candy thermometer, I thought I'd add some additional information.
The 'soft ball' stage in candy-making is the stage where the sugar has thoroughly ...
12
votes
Accepted
creme brulee caramelized sugar disappearing
Yes, you are correct. Creme brulee exudes and condensates enough moisture that the caramel would disappear. If you want to make it ahead, you have to make the custard only. Caramelization is always ...
11
votes
Should I cook mushrooms on low or high heat in order to get the most flavour?
I am with Bon Appetit on this one, or even more extreme - I always pan-fry mushrooms on the highest heat setting.
For me, the keys for nice, browned mushrooms on a domestic stove are:
Use very high ...
10
votes
Should I cook mushrooms on low or high heat in order to get the most flavour?
While I often cook mushrooms the way @rumtscho does, I wouldn't discount the advice of Harold McGee (refer to top right, p. 346). If you are looking to maximize flavor, it might be worth ...
9
votes
Accepted
When you caramelise an onion are you really caramelising the sugars?
If I understand your question correctly, you're asking:
Does "true" caramelization happen when browning onions?
Does starch pyrolysis take place when browning onions?
Ad 1) I think it's ...
8
votes
What is the real temperature to caramelize sugar?
Recipes that call for water to be added to the sugar for making a caramel do so to help all the sugar melt, by dissolving some or all of it in the water. This prevents premature crystallization of the ...
6
votes
Accepted
How can I make a large amount of caramelized onions for a french onion soup?
You can caramelize onions in the oven to do large quantities. This isn't less effort, and it actually takes longer, but it does allow you to do really large quantities; I did 20lbs of caramelized ...
5
votes
Best way to dissolve caramelized sugar
Walk away.
No, really - it works. Once you add the water to the sugar, it will likely harden and clump up (I don't know how to stop that happening). But once it does, you can just walk away, and ...
4
votes
Best way to dissolve caramelized sugar
You can caramelize the sugar without melting it. Perhaps that will give you the results you are after. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/05/dry-toasted-sugar-granulated-caramel-recipe.html
4
votes
Accepted
Converting Pressure Cooker recipes for cookers with lower PSI
Here's a table that claims to give time equivalencies for cooking at different pressures. (This is from a website dedicated to pressure cooking information, so it's pretty standard.)
It doesn't go ...
4
votes
How do I safely caramelize honey without fully burning it?
In case you are still looking for caramelised honey guides, and not caramelised sugar guides, I have found the following:
lemony caramelised honey
plain caramelised honey
another plain caramelised ...
4
votes
What level of heat is best when caramelizing?
In my personal experience, "caramelizing" and "quickly" are not things that get along well. I happen to have done a small batch of caramelized onions last night. It took two hours, which is faster ...
4
votes
Can I avoid overcooking my candied lemon decorations?
Try gluing them to the cooked cake with a sugar syrup or caramel. Caramel is quite sticky, so it should hold the candied citrus on the cake with no problems, at least during transport. How hard your ...
4
votes
How to keep caramel from hardening prematurely?
I'm sorry, but what you are asking for is not possible. Caramel is a hard substance (I mean pure caramel here, not the stuff which has added dairy or acid and never hardens). You cannot even keep it ...
4
votes
Method for caramelizing Goat Cheese Balls without Breading?
You can use a mini scooper to cut the goat cheese in spherical shape. After cutting the spheres, put a toothpick to it, coat it with castor sugar or dermerra sugar. Blow torch it evenly on all sides. ...
4
votes
The role of fat (butter, oil) in caramel-required recipes?
I am coming rather late to this party, but here's my answer:
Caramel made by heating sugar in fat (oil or butter) will never completely harden like caramel made in water or just melting sugar and will ...
4
votes
How to identify the exact point of caramelization?
"Grainy" doesn't mean "too much water evaporated", it means "it crystallized". For caramelization in a pot on the stove, by the time you start getting any significant ...
3
votes
How do I safely caramelize honey without fully burning it?
My original comment was based on reading, this is based on doing.
I tried the slow cooker (crock pot) method and am happy with the results. I added 3 pounds of honey, making sure that it took up less ...
3
votes
How can I make a large amount of caramelized onions for a french onion soup?
Use a pressure cooker if you have one. I saw this in modernist cuisine but the above mentioned kenji (legend) has a discussion. The total cooking time is under 30 minutes.
3
votes
How can I make a large amount of caramelized onions for a french onion soup?
Caramelizing onions works great in a slow cooker. Slice 5 extra large sweet onions in half, then in fairly thin half moon slices. Place them in a 6 qt (5.7 liters) slow cooker with a splash of water ...
3
votes
The role of fat (butter, oil) in caramel-required recipes?
Well, I'd say it has mostly to do with texture, but also with taste.
To my knowledge there are three basic methods to making caramel:
dry: without anything but sugar. In my opinion the most ...
3
votes
Accepted
Does caramelization refer strictly to sugar or the cooking of anything?
Caramelization is defined as the pyrolysis of sugars. Pryolysis is decomposition due to high temperature. So, yes, caramelization is always an effect on the sugars present in an ingredient. The ...
3
votes
Accepted
Does adding baking soda to steam sweet potatoes in a pressure cooker help with caramelization?
The need for contact is correct, but not really the issue here (else you could have pre-rubbed your potatoes). Both caramelization and Maillard reaction (which are different things) require rather ...
3
votes
What is a good technique for making a very small amount of caramel?
You make small amounts the same way you make large amounts: dry or wet, doesn't matter, take your preference.
The problems you have are related not to the method, but to the wrong vessel. For example, ...
2
votes
Is butter required to caramelize onions?
They brown and become flavorful for two reasons, not one:
Two different browning reactions are at play in the process: caramelization, in which sugars break down into hundreds of new molecules ... ...
2
votes
Melting sugar on creme brulee with blow torch
I've caramelised thousands of creme brulees and I find that these points will help you.
1) Dry your custard surface of water/condensation
2) Use caster/ demerara sugar that is dry (not clumpy from ...
2
votes
Flavored caramelization
Most of the aromatic compounds contained in vanilla are highly volatile and / or degrade in high heat, so I would add the vanilla after caramelization.
2
votes
How do you accompany other veggies with caramelized onions?
Carrots and onions have different cooking times, so no, you can't throw them together.
What I would do is cut the carrots as small as the onions (just for aesthetic purposes), start stewing the ...
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