So, as you know, I love to make dulce de leche. Why buy something so easily made?
Well, here's a reason:
Oops.
When I pour the evaporated milk into a pan for baking, I usually cover the top with foil. I happened to have a round glass dish available with a matching lid, so I slapped the lid on and popped the thing in the oven, and then... half an hour in, I knew the smell wasn't right.
The boiling milk bubbled up. The bubbles stuck to the side of the pan and burned. My best guess is that when the pan is properly sealed, there's something about the moisture balance that prevents those bubbles from doing this cling thing, because it's never happened to me before.
Anyway, I hope the pan can be saved. It's still soaking. Regular dulce is sticky enough, so you can imagine burned-on milk sugar isn't exactly a swipe-with-a-sponge-and-go cleanup task.
The upside of this whole story is two-fold. One, I now know where I can buy pre-made dulce within two blocks of my apartment -- the Williams-Sonoma at Columbus Circle sells the very tasty La Salamandra brand. And two, the alfajores (sandwich cookies) I made were absolutely BONKERS.
About which more tomorrow.
life is in reality only a dream
Posted by: Cheap Jordans Shoes | March 24, 2011 at 04:45 AM
My Chilean mother-in-law taught me a foolproof way to make amazing dulce de leche. Take a can of condensed milk, peel the label off, boil it in a pot of water for 90 minutes (medium boil), turn off heat and MOST IMPORTANTLY let it sit until it is COMPLETELY room temperature. Open with a can opener and you've got something that is a million times better than what they sell in the stores. I know, it sounds scary. Trust me, I've done it for 10 years now and never had a problem and it comes out amazing every time.
Posted by: Meganne | March 24, 2011 at 08:07 PM
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Posted by: Paul Fireman | April 06, 2011 at 08:43 PM
Pralines are candies made of nuts and sugar. When you drizzle a bit of candy into a cup of cold water, it should form a soft ball which does not hold shape. The candy should flatten out between your fingers.
Posted by: Analogue Meters | August 09, 2011 at 10:31 AM
It is such a common occurrence that no one ever wonders from whence it came. But the telephone has a fascinating story behind it.
Posted by: Phen375 | November 08, 2011 at 09:28 AM