Caramel with their 3 stages (liquid, soft, chewy): What is the key difference when cooking?
I want to know what is the extra step that make the difference between:
Caramel Sauce;
Soft Caramel;
Chewy Caramel.
I will take Christophe Michalak recipe:
100 g sugar;
100 g cream;
20 g butter.
What is the key step that will make the difference. And what if we added less cream, so we can be aware from slightly oily caramels.
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There is no "extra step". The recipe proportions determine which type you get. Standard caramel is just chewy. If you add fat or milk proteins (insider tip: try milk powder), it becomes soft. The more fat, the softer.
Also, if you add liquid, it becomes liquid, and can be used as a sauce. The more liquid, the lower the viscosity.
Also, it is a continuum, there is no hard divide. You can't say that up to 30% cream it's a soft caramel, from 31% cream it's a sauce" or similar.
A recipe should tell you which kind it produces. The one you posted looks a lot like a sauce to me, although I don't have ratios handy to say for sure. I tried searching for it, but the only one I found was djoudjousemetauxfourneaux.wordpress.com/2015/11/02/sauce-caramel-maison-recette-de-christophe-michalak/, which has much less liquid and more butter, and is still supposed to be a sauce.
The temperature of the caramel when you stop cooking will make a significant difference in the texture/solidity of the caramel product. This is what candy thermometers are for. For example, if you want:
caramel sauce that remains soft when frozen : thread stage
chewy caramel at room temperature : firm-ball stage
caramel for popcorn : hard-crack stage
It's hard to tell from your question what the difference between "soft" and "chewy" caramel is, but you should be able to refer to the standard candy making temperature guidelines.
Examples of caramel recipes that finish heating below 170 C:
www.marthastewart.com/948380/classic-caramel-candies http://allrecipes.com/recipe/22774/caramel-candies/ www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/recipe-caramels.html# www.ediblelife.net/archives/iblelife.net/2013/04/the-best-caramel-popcorn-recipe-ever.html
These recipes combine all ingredients before beginning the caramelization process (sugar is not done first).
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