The Fugue

A short while back, we were enjoying some ice cream. Erin and I have different ideas on the proper dressing for ice cream. She likes hot fudge and maybe some chopped almonds. I like caramel, roasted peanuts (not chopped), and maybe some chocolate (if she's already gone through the trouble of heating up her hot fudge). So we traded spoonfuls as we sometimes do, and the hot fudge struck me as more disgusting than usual. It really is sickening stuff. Not that I don't like chocolate. In fact, a truly good hot fudge on ice cream is a treat indeed. It's just that stuff they sell in the supermarkets that passes for hot fudge that's disgusting.

This experience coincided with me running out of caramel sauce, so fate had thrown down the gauntlet: make really delicious hot fudge and caramel sauce from scratch.

To make a long story short, she actually wants a good hot chocolate sauce, not a hot fudge sauce, and I really want a good cajeta sauce, not caramel sauce.

The hot chocolate sauce is easier. I consulted my mentor redbeard and he suggested a ganache. It turned out to be the perfect suggestion. Bring 1/2 cup cream just to a boil (in a large pot because it will bubble up), and pour over 3 oz quality semisweet chocolate. Stir to melt and drizzle on ice cream. Store in a jar in the fridge. It will set up, so the microwave is your friend in the future. May I recommend a small glass condiment bowl for microwaving small quantities? It will melt faster and you won't be remelting the stuff at the bottom over and over. Now, this sauce isn't very sweet. More of a dark chocolate flavor. But the ice cream is already sweet - all we need is creamy chocolate and heat - and I think this sauce is a perfect ice cream topping.

For the cajeta, there were two challenges. First, cajeta is quite thick, more suited to a cookie sandwich than an ice cream topping. Second, how do you make the stuff? There's loads of unnecessary mystery, complication, and noise on the internet on this subject.

Let's tackle the second one first. I had already convinced myself I was too simple for redbeard's simple caramel sauce. Either his recipe isn't foolproof or I'm less than a fool. (I think, after further reading, that my troubles could be mitigated by not adding that splash of water, but starting with just dry sugar). I was worried that making cajeta (which is a different beast than caramelizing sugar) would also fail, but I didn't have to worry. There's a good article on Chowhound to clear up the mystery surrounding this confection, and a simple recipe by Suzanne Martinson that fills in the gaps. There, that was easy.

Now, we need to make a sauce out of it. If you're smarter than me, it might already be obvious to you how to make a sauce out of dulce de leche: add liquid to thin it out. This didn't come to me until I was reading about the cold water candy test and it dawned on me that this mumbo jumbo about cooking sugar syrup to a certain temperature isn't about the temperature so much as it is about the concentration of the syrup. The thermometer, or cold water test, is just an indicator of the sugar concentration. That's a bit oversimplified of course, but that's how it came to me. Now, if you just stopped cooking cajeta at 230°F (thread stage), you might not get the full maillard reaction. No, better to cook the cajeta completely, then add liquid to bring it back to a sauce consistency. You can find my recipe here. I burnt my first batch (by not stirring it) and it was still too good to throw away. Absolute heaven.