Hi all, I tried making Dulce de leche last night for the first time. I tried the oven method where you put in a pan covered in foil, and place that in a pan of water for 1 1/2 hours. At the end, it still looked like condensed milk to me- but tasted good still . Now I wonder was it supposed to look like brown caramel, or what? Has anyone tried this and what results do you get?

ok
after you read this your gonna love me.
Dulce de leche is from Argentina- thats where I was born- been eating it all 25 years of my life.
This is the easy cheat way of doing it if you can't find it at the store.

buy a can of condensed milk at the store
at home- take a deep pot- at least 7 inches tall- the width doesnt matter as long as the can fits in there.

put the can of condensed milk (without the label) in the pot- fill it with water
this is really important - the water has to COMPLETELY COVER the can at all time.
Set the pot on the stove and let it boil.

You cannot leave the pot unattended cause your going to have to refill it with water, as the boiled water evaporates.

Its really important that the water always cover the can- otherwise the can can explode and trust me u dont want to have to clean that up- I speak from experience.

You will have to boil the can for about 4 hrs or so.
when the time is up- take the can out and set it aside to let it cool.
Once it is cool , open the can.

The contents should be a cream caramel color- thats dulce de leche

heres a link with pics
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.popular-traditional-argentina-food.com/dulce_de_leche/pour.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.popular-traditional-argentina-food.com/dulce_de_leche/history.html&h=238&w=210&sz=18&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=c5doq7fy4L9PcM:&tbnh=109&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddulce%2Bde%2Bleche%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

its not supposed to be runny.
It gets runny only if you heat it up
otherwise it should have a semi stiff consistency- it will hold a peak but it will eventually sink back down

WOW 4hours.. I think I have a can in the pantry.. I might try this!! THANKS! The exploding can kind of scares me though!!!! LOL

hmmm... oh. Although mine was still looked liked condensed milk, after it was sort of thick, but then after cooling off, it was thicker, and turned a very very, light brown. I've heard of the method you described, but I got scared because alot of people said it might be dangerous or something, so I tried the other way. Thanks for the insight, just the same

no worries
its not really dangerous
you just cant set it and leave it.
I would say to try it on a baking day, that way your in and out of the kitchen anyway and can keep an eye on it.

The only time a can ever exploded was when my aunt set it to boil and then went to take a 3 hr nap, so the thing dried up completely.

What is the shelf life once it's boiled? I have a can I boiled a few months ago and haven't used yet will it still be good if it hasn't been opened?

I would open it and try it.
If its very very grainy and it looks like might have crystallized, I wouldn't eat it, but Ive never heard of anyone getting sick from it if it hasnt been opened

granted ive never seen a can last more than a day or two.

i always thought dulce de leche was a special kind of cake....so its just like a carmel colored goo that you put on top of the cake?

I've tried the boiled can method too. I didn't know that was the name I was just told it was an easy way to make caramel. I used it as a filling for making chocolates and it was easy and delicious.

OK Auryn, noone has said it, so I will. I Love You! lol! This sounds so easy, I am definetly going to give this a try this weekend!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

Jen

my pleasure
dulce de leche is one of my fave things in the world

if you want I can give you some quick scrumptious recipes to use it in

HAHAHA! That's funny Aruyan! I guess they give that warning to cover every kind of scenario that might happen-like falling asleep! I'll try it soon and see how it goes, thanks again

Auryn, please give us the recipes.

Somethng I learned when I boiled mine is to use a pan you don't really care about as the metal from the can will leave a permanent ring inside of the pan.