Good Eats Dulce De Leche

mikey & ev's Note:

I love dulce de leche. Here is Alton's way of making it, from the Milk Made episode.

• Total Time: 3 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 cup

• 1 quart whole milk
• 12 ounces sugar , by weight (approximately 1.5 cups)
• 1 vanilla bean , split and seeds scraped
• ½ teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

1. Combine the milk, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds in a large, 4-quart saucepan and place over medium heat.
2. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the baking soda and stir to combine.
3. Reduce the heat to low and cook uncovered at a bare simmer. Stir occasionally, but do not re-incorporate the foam that appears on the top of the mixture. Continue to cook for 1 hour.
4. Remove the vanilla bean after 1 hour and continue to cook until the mixture is a dark caramel color and has reduced to about 1 cup, approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
5. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to a month.

Reviews

[Random Rachel]

Wow! This was delicious! And easy to make - tasted just like caramel.

[alittlerayofsunshine]

This was a really good recipe, just a little too sweet for my tastebuds. Admittedly, I used skim milk and reduced the sugar to 1 cup (then again, I used brown sugar, so it was sweeter), 2 tsp of real vanilla extract. It took around 4 hours to completely thicken, and due to laziness (it was 1am) I decided to add 1 tsp of cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp cold water. Worked like a charm, and my mixture thickened almost instantaneously :/ Not completely authentic if you follow my method, but hey, its good:)

[MsPia]

Perfect recipe. I had to cook it much longer to get the right consistency but I did triple the recipe. Also I didn't strain it, I don't think it is necessary. Thank you.