Bourbon Caramel Sauce Recipe Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

FAQs

What gives bourbon caramel flavor? ›

Just like a fine wine, bourbon can develop richer caramel flavors when aged in charred oak barrels. Another trick is to try caramel-infused simple syrup. This sweet elixir can bring out the caramel notes in your bourbon and make it even more indulgent.

Some form of dairy — typically butter and/or heavy cream — is usually added to the mixture at either the beginning or the end of cooking. This addition makes the caramel richer, thicker, and lighter in color, lending more viscosity and rounder flavor.

As it cools, it will thicken. You will need to store the caramel sauce in the refrigerator, so it will firm up even more once chilled.

Dark Soy Sauce is not to be confused with black Soy Sauce, also known as 'Cooking caramel'. It's the most viscous of Soy Sauces, with a texture akin to molasses. Popular in Southeast Asia, it is less salty than dark Soy Sauce and has a rich, almost metallic taste, and is only mildly sweet.

Vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar have often been used to mimic the taste of bourbon in recipes, but you can clearly tell when they are used as substitutes.

Many distillers also use rye and wheat to flavor their bourbons. Rye makes the bourbon spicy, while wheat produces a softer, sweeter flavor. Others might use grains like rice or quinoa – but each grain chosen, and the amount of each, affects the flavor down the line.

To thicken a caramel sauce, use one tablespoon of cornstarch or tapioca starch (sometimes known as tapioca flour) and one tablespoon of water per cup of caramel. Then simmer the caramel, stirring it constantly with a wooden spoon until it becomes thick.

Add the butter cold. Sometimes when you add melty butter it struggles to incorporate into the caramel. I take mine out of the fridge when I start making the caramel so it's not at all melted before I add it.

Overheating the mixture

Follow the recipe carefully, and never melt your caramel on your stove's highest setting—it will cause the caramel to scorch and taste burnt. Once it gets a burnt or bitter flavor, it can't be saved.

Generally, “caramel” is defined as a chewy, light-brown candy made from butter, sugar, and milk or cream. For example: I love eating caramels because they are soft and chewy. In contrast, “Carmel,” is used as a proper noun, and it is a popular beach town in California, known as Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Why is my homemade caramel not hardening? ›

If caramels are too soft, that means the temperature didn't get high enough. Again place the caramel back into a sauce pan with a couple of tablespoons of water and heat to 244°F. If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can test with a cold water test.

There are many different kinds of caramel, including soft caramels, hard caramels, and chewy caramels. Soft caramels are made with a high proportion of milk or cream, which gives them a soft, creamy texture. Hard caramels, on the other hand, are made with very little milk or cream, and have a harder, crunchier texture.

Caramel sauce results either from cooking sugar until it browns or by thinning melted caramel candies. When a recipe calls for melting caramel candies, you can use a homemade caramel sauce to replace the melted caramels.

Caramel coloring isn't allowed in bourbon, and some single malt producers have opted out of its use, preferring to let the natural color of the spirit shine through.

For those of you who don't know, caramel colouring, also known as spirit caramel or E150a, is a food additive. More specifically it's a food colouring. It's used in everything from chocolate to cough drops, but most importantly it's used by some distilleries in certain bottlings of whisky.

Caramel is white granulated sugar that's been heated slowly to 340 degrees Fahrenheit. This gradual heating process breaks down the sugar's molecules and creates a deep golden brown color and rich flavor.

E150A, also known as caramel coloring or caramel colouring, is a food coloring agent that is commonly used in the production of whisky. It is made by heating carbohydrates, such as glucose or invert sugar, to high temperatures in the presence of acids, alkalis, or other catalysts.