The Key to the Smoothest Caramel

Making caramel.

Are we rolling?

Holy, hold on let me get my water.

Where's my water?

Has anyone seen my water?

Oh, there it is.

Making caramel is one of those things that convinces me

that cooking is really magic.

Because it takes something so simple,

sugar, and makes it something so complex and delicious.

I start with regular granulated sugar,

it's just one cup,

that goes into a heavy-bottomed, high-sided saucepan.

This is a wet caramel, which means I start it

with a little bit water and that helps get

all of the crystals dissolved.

The secret ingredient is cream of tartar.

It changes the molecular structure of the sugar

and prevents crystalization.

Now I'm going to just assemble all of my other ingredients

for the sauce.

A half a cup of heavy cream.

Four tablespoons of unsalted butter.

and salt.

I want to get all of these things ready now

because once I start to cook the caramel,

it's not the kind of thing you wanna walk away from.

All of this gets moved to the stove.

I'll keep this nearby.

Get that heat going and because I added Cream of Tartar

I can actually start this caramel all the way through,

making sure that all of the sugar is dissolved.

In the beginning as the mixture boils,

it's just driving off all of the water.

So this stage takes a little while

and once it starts taking color, that's when it goes fast.

Here I have a white plate and some spoons,

so I can have a little more control over the color.

I can feel it.

It's close.

It's hypnotizing me, the bubbles.

If you stare at it long enough.

It's taking on a hint of color and I can also smell

that it's getting a little bit toasty

and now it'll go pretty quickly.

At this stage I'm going to reduce my flame a little bit.

This is why I have everything ready to go,

so I can take this just to the edge of burnt.

I think I'm gonna go ahead and add the butter now.

Gonna reduce the heat.

You want to add the cream slowly

I tend to stir with a spatula until it's nice and smooth.

The last ingredient is a very generous amount

of kosher salt.

This is a teaspoon.

I think we are ready to take it off the heat.

So it's had some time to cool down.

It's a really lovely consistency.

This is just run-of-the-mill vanilla ice cream.

Thanks for making caramel with me.

What do we say?

I hate the endings.

I'm gonna stop myself so I don't eat the rest of it,

although I could and maybe I will later.

Just gonna eat a little more.