This Is Carla Hall's Secret To Easy Caramel
Though audiences first got to know her as a contestant on "Top Chef," Carla Hall has since gone on to grace the television screens of foodies on daytime show "The Chew," as well as "Holiday Baking Championship," which she hosts, just to name a few (via Food Network). She has also shared her recipes in several different cookbooks, all focused on her unique blend of soul food and comfort food. Through all that cooking and recipe creation, she's likely picked up quite a few tips and tricks over the years, but there's one in particular that any dessert lovers may want to hear, as it has to do with a certain finicky sweet treat — caramel.
While the ingredients required to make caramel aren't particularly expensive or tough to find, it can be an intimidating item for many home cooks to try creating simply because of how temperamental it is — a few stirs and all of a sudden you've got crystals ruining the silky texture of your sauce, or a minute too long and the mixture turns from amber to burnt (via Taste of Home). Luckily, Hall has you covered with a simple tip you can incorporate when making your caramel that will allow you to get the flawless, silky caramel you've always dreamed of — and you don't need to go to the store to pick up any crazy supplies for this trick.
The kitchen item that will simplify your caramel making
Apart from accidentally allowing your caramel to cook too long and thus burning it, one of the key elements that causes so much difficulty in caramel making is those pesky crystallized sugars that often stick to the side of the pot or pan, which can fall into your sauce and cause it to seize. That's exactly what Hall's trick, which she revealed to People, addresses.
When making caramel, Hall advises covering the pan with a glass lid — seriously, the simple extra step of grabbing a lid for your pot when you're whipping up a batch of caramel will make all the difference in the world. Having the lid on allows steam to gather in the pot, and that steam can gently work its magic on the sides of the pan, washing away any sugar crystals and yielding a silky smooth caramel. And, if you use a glass lid, you'll have the same ability to tell when the sugar is changing color as you would if you were just staring right at the mixture in an uncovered pot.
You'll still want to follow other caramel-creating rules of thumb, such as using a heavy, thick pot or pan, and ensuring your cooking vessel is completely clean (via David Lebovitz). However, if your main issue when making caramel has always been unwanted crystallization, Hall's tip just might be a game changer for you.