DULCE DE LECHE IS NOT CARAMEL!!! AND THE REAL ONE IS NOT MADE BY COOKING CONDENSED MILK… This post has an emotional reason!!!
I’ll teach you an easy and simple dulce de leche recipe. You just need sugar, milk, low heat and patience.
The dispute over who devised the dulce de leche has multiple contenders in Latin America. There are legends, stories and anecdotes in the areas that claim their creation. All this makes us think that the popular sweet is older than we think.
In spite of many Latin America countries that have cried out to the creation of dulce de leche, it seems that Argentina was the fastest and had the best marketing about it’s claim.
Since 1995, every October 11, the “World Day of Dulce de Leche” has been celebrated, to pay tribute to the delicacy that was recognized as “Cultural Food and Gastronomic Heritage of Argentina”, according to the official agency Télam.
In response to that statement, Uruguay ( that in my humble opinion has THE BEST DULCE DE LECHE EVER ), asked Unesco, instead, to declare it a gastronomic heritage of the Río de la Plata area. ( De la Plata River )
INFORMATION ABOUT SOME INGREDIENTS
Because the main goal of this blog is to give techniques and prepare you for a real kitchen adventure, lets talk about some ingredients and its functionalities with this recipe.
BICARB OF SODA
Bicarbonate of Soda is an agent used in this recipe to reduce and neutralize the acidity of milk ( yes, bicarb of soda is a salt with PH 7, it is THE perfect neutralizer). This recipe will highlight the color and flavor in addition to neutralizing the PH of the milk.
GLUCOSE
Glucose in confectionery is mainly an anti-crystallizer that helps prevent sugar crystals from forming on top of your preparations.
So, whenever you’re making a recipe full of sugar and you’re going to cook for a long time, add glucose and have more peace of mind to work.
At Coppa we do not use glucose in our dulce de leche products as we sell them very fast and we know that customers consume them at a fast rate. But if you want to increase the product’s durability, glucose is a strong ally.
Where to use Dulce de Leche?
Although eating from the jar with a spoon is still my favorite way of eating dulce de leche, I’ll list some ideas for you in case you have extra and want to use it:
- Topping For Cheesecake
- Topping for Brownies
- Filling for Alfajor
- Cake Filling
- Churros Filling
DULCE DE LECHE – ORIGINAL
Difficulty: Easy600g
slices5
minutes1
hourIngredients
Ingredients
1 l of milk
240g ( 1 cup & 1/3 cup ) of sugar
100g ( 1/3 cup ) glucose ( optional – if you decided not to use, add 100g of sugar into the recipe )
2g ( 1/2 TSP ) Bicarb of Soda
Directions
- In a thick-bottomed pan (if you have a copper pan, even better!), Add the milk, sugar and glucose.
- Cook over low heat until it boils. Add the baking soda.
- Cook until it has a creamy consistency, if you stir it all the time (it will become super creamy), if you can’t, place a saucer on the bottom of the pan before adding the ingredients. This trick will prevent the milk from burning at the bottom.
- After cooking, remove the jam and place in a mixer with a k beater. Beat until cool. This trick will make it sweet and even more creamy and tasty.
Notes
- Chemistry is very important in the kitchen. You do not need to be a master, but if you have a basic understanding and apply it with consistency then you will be able to create and modify recipes more easily.
- Ingredients with PH less than 7 are always acidic and a PH of 7 is neutral; a PH of above 7 is basic. This information helps a lot when searching for texture and perfect flavors for your recipes. Using this kind of knowledge you can play with your ingredients in a more professional way.
