This is a tale of a special caramel. Caramels, as you must know, are those creamy, buttery, chewy, melt in your mouth and oh so darn delicious candies. It’s amazing how simple they are to make, magic up some sugar and ta-da you have these lovely soft and chewy candies.
So back to our special caramel. We’ve made caramels before but this time we tried something totally different. Different how? Well, what happened is that we got our greedy little hands on some wagyu fat. Wagyu, yum, amiright, that totally luscious and ever so expensive marbled beef. With this wee bit of waygu fat on our hands we were like, what should we do? And, as it turns out, the answer was to make the most amazing caramels ever: Waygu Fat Soft Chewy Caramels to die for!!
Here is the waygu fat. As you can see, just plain ol beef fat, also known as beef tallow. Which, if you haven't discovered already, is really rich and savory and super yummy.
Caramels are usually made with butter which is just another type of fat, really, so that's how we got the idea to replace the butter in caramels with our waygu fat. Oh my gosh it worked out so well!
You can actually buy waygu beef tallow already rendered! But if you want to make your own the raw waygu fat first needs to be rendered. So we add to a small pot with a splash of water and cook over low heat until all the liquid fat is released.
Here is the result of the rendering. A bowl of pure creamy beef fat. And a few pieces of beef cracklings, the crisped up solids that remain after rendering fat.
Sprinkle these cracklings with a bit of salt and eat like chips, so good! The cook's reward, lol...
With our fat rendered it's time to mix up the caramel. It's pretty easy to make, just add the fat, sweetened condensed milk, sugar and glucose syrup to the pot.
We were totally tickled with how our caramels came out. If you like, however, you could still play around with the flavor. There are substitutions you can make, for example, use cream for the sweetened condensed milk, use butter for the fat, or use honey, maple syrup, treacle or golden syrup instead of glucose syrup. Each of these syrups come with their own distinct flavor profile.
Literary side note: I first read of 'treacle' in that wonderful childhood book 'Alice In Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll. And then spent many years afterwards dreamily wondering what this seemingly most mysterious and delicious food was. Twas the Dormouse who mentioned it:
"'Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the Dormouse began in a great hurry; 'and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well-''What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great interest in questions of eating and drinking.'They lived on treacle,' said the Dormouse, after thinking a minute or two."
Oh, how I longed for some treacle of my own!
The mixture is cooked to the heat needed for sugar to reach 245°F, also known as the "firm ball stage." Reaching this temperature will make delectably soft and chewy caramels. You will need a food thermometer for this. Make sure to keep an eyeball on the heat and don't let the thermometer probe touch the pot bottom.
The moment the caramel reaches the desired temperature, whisk it off the stove. It's time to mix in the salt and vanilla extract. And any other flavoring elements you want to add directly into the candies like nuts or even a drop of rum or whiskey.
Once your flavors are mixed in pour the still warm and gooey caramel into a lined pan and smooth out. We added a final sprinkle of quality sea salt on top to make it pretty and add pops of salty delight.
We used some amazing Italian sea salt that we discovered recently. Oh my man, so delish! Really getting into trying different salts, english, japanese and now italian. It's kinda like you can taste the land where the salt came from. All different and all good. Plus a tasty salt can take a dish up to the next level!
Once your caramel is cooled a bit set it in the fridge to chill until set. Note that it's gonna be easier to slice if cold. To slice use a sharp knife. And clean the knife in between cuts if it starts to stick.
With the caramels squares cut you're pretty much done and ready to start enjoying the caramels. A couple of chews of your homemade caramel will turn it into a mouthful of soft buttery deliciousness infused with the savory and umami rich notes of waygu. Oh, to die for...
And if you want to go further and mayhaps prepare these caramels as a gift, cut out squares of parchment paper and wrap the individual caramels in a twist of paper. Looks so professional!
Waygu Fat Soft Chewy Caramels
(makes 50 candies) (adapted from recipe here) Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
- food thermometer
- 1/2 cup rendered beef tallow, 70g (or 1/2 cup raw fat, chopped)
- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk, 350g
- 1 cup brown sugar, 180g
- 2 tbsp glucose syrup, 50g
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp whiskey (optional)
- 1/4 tsp flaky sea salt for topping
- Parchment paper squares for wrapping (optional)
Direction:
Prepare the pan: Line a 10 by 4 inch pan with parchment paper.
Render raw fat (if not using already rendered beef tallow): Place chopped fat in a thick bottomed small pot. Add in 1 tbsp water and cook over a very low heat for about an hour or until the liquid fat is rendered out and all that is left of the original is browned pieces of cracklings. Remove pieces of cracklings.
Cook caramel: Add sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar and glucose into the pot with the rendered fat. Cook over a medium low heat until the temperature reaches 245°F (118°C). Please use a food thermometer to measure as the exact temperature is important in making caramels. Stir occasionally as it cooks, keeping an eye on the pot and lowering heat if necessary to prevent the bottom of the caramel from burning.
Once the temperature is reached remove immediately from heat. Add in the vanilla extract, 1 tsp salt and whiskey (optional), then mix til incorporated. Pour into prepared pan, shaking to smooth the caramel out. Sprinkle on the flaky sea salt now while the caramel is still hot.
Let caramel set: Let the caramel sit until it cools to room temperature. Place into the fridge to cool for 1 hour or until completely chilled and set.
Cut the caramels: Remove the caramel slab from pan (just lift the parchment paper up) and set onto cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut the caramels into 3/4 inch slices first, then into 3/4 by 3/4 inch cubes. If the knife starts sticking, clean it with a wet rag and then continue slicing.
Storage: Keep in an air tight container in the fridge with parchment papers in between layers. Or, alternately, cut out squares of parchment paper and wrap caramel squares in twists of paper. Also store in the fridge. Keeps for six months. Enjoy the caramel-liciousness!
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