Some of the best things in life involve homemade caramel sauce: custardy bread pudding and warm apple pies, for example. Despite the fact that it's universally pleasing, making caramel is a technique that intimidates many home cooks. Fear not, caramel crusaders: Claire Saffitz, Bon Appétit senior associate food editor and master of all things sweet, has shared the most common caramel sauce mistakes. Avoid these, and it'll be sweet—er, smooth—sailing.
1. Using the Wrong Pot
You can't make a caramel sauce with a thin or flimsy pot. "The sugar around the edges of the pot will get too hot too quickly—they'll burn before the rest of the caramel has cooked. Set yourself up for success with a heavy-bottomed pot, like an enameled Dutch oven.
Vanilla Bean Tarte Tatin. Photo: Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott
2. Dumping in All of the Sugar at Once
Adding all of your sugar in one go means that it won't liquefy uniformly. Avoid sugar that's a perfect amber in some places and clumpy and raw in others by adding it in one or two layers. This recipe for Vanilla Bean Tarte Tatin, for example, calls for two rounds of cooking. Add in the first part and swirl the pot, moving the sugar around its surface to account for any "hot spots." Once the first addition has liquefied and taken on some color, add the rest of the sugar. It's fool-proof.
3. Not Setting up Your Mise en Place
Setting up mise en place means having all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go before you start the cooking process. This is always helpful, but imperative when making caramel sauce. At its most basic, caramel sauce is cooked sugar combined with cream and butter (any other flavoring agents, like vanilla, are welcome additions). The dairy is what gives the caramel its pourable, spoonable texture. Adding it to the hot sugar also immediately arrests the cooking process—the cool or room-temperature ingredients drops the temperature of the caramel—so it's important to have them next to the pot. Wait a few seconds too long to add them, and your caramel could overcook.
