Expat Son eats caramel or dulce de leche depending on what country you are from... on his toast most mornings. He loved it as a baby and still does. I learned many years ago from one of my Argentine friends how to make dulce de leche by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk for 3 hours. When you live in China you will do almost anything for the food that you want, need or miss. So after many assurances from my friend that the can would not explode in my face I have made my caramel this way for nearly 10 years.....except when we lived in the states and it was easy to get at the little Mexican grocery store in our town.
So in this post if you cannot get caramel or dulce de leche readily available, like we still cannot here in Guangzhou, I hope to alleviate your fears of explosions in the kitchen and help you to enjoy the taste of Caramel or Dulce de Leche.
So here goes and I have photos too!
You will need a large pot, water and a can of sweetened condensed milk.
Peel label off of the can of milk and take plastic lid off. Leave can sealed. DO NOT OPEN!
Lay can on its side. I do this when just cooking one can; it helps me to keep the water level above the can. You never want the water to be below the can.
When I cook three cans in a pot I usually stand the cans up and I use a much larger pot.
Fill pot with water so the level is above the can by a few inches.
It will look like this. Can is fully submerged.
Now turn the burner on high to start boiling process.
You will also want to put a kettle of water on to boil. You will need to add this hot water to the pot as the water evaporates. By doing this you will keep the water level above the can and it will not explode.
When the water boils turn burner down so that the water will simmer. Simmer for 3 hours.
Remember!
You will need to fill the water as it evaporates to keep the water level above the can of milk.
You will end up with a lovely caramel that you can use to fill cakes, cookies, put in flan or just spread on toast, pancakes or Expat Son's favorite waffles.
Enjoy!