# Caramel makers: Wet or dry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caramel-makers-wet-or-dry/665284 "2013-08-03T23:21:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caramel-makers-wet-or-dry/665284/1 "2013-08-03T23:21:38Z")
I recently forayed into the scary world of making my own caramel sauce. My first attempt was wet method, and I didn’t pay close enough attention, resulting in a smoking, burnt sugary mess. My second attempt was dry method, resulting in beautiful, creamy, perfect consistency to pour into my morning iced coffee goodness. However, it took about an hour and a half. SO: Do you use wet or dry method? Why? Any tips in general? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caramel-makers-wet-or-dry/665284/2 "2013-08-04T00:22:58Z")
I’ve made caramel based candy, but never caramel sauce. Can you link to your recipe? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caramel-makers-wet-or-dry/665284/3 "2013-08-04T00:35:43Z")
Dry. Water is just a crutch in this situation. Just be sure to watch carefully, and you’re fine. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caramel-makers-wet-or-dry/665284/4 "2013-08-04T00:36:34Z")
I am not much of a sweets person, but FWIW, if I were going to attempt something that might be technical or finicky I’d look to Cook’s Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen, whose recipes are obsessively tested to be as “foolproof” as possible. ---
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caramel-makers-wet-or-dry/665284/5 "2013-08-04T01:05:23Z")
[Here](http://www.brighteyedbaker.com/2012/07/24/diy-caramel-sauce/) is the dry method, the one that turned out well, but took way longer than the recipe stated. This is probably because my caramel seized up when I added the milk, and I had to remelt it. I can’t find a link to the wet method I used (I found in on Pinterest and apparently didn’t save it), but my notes say that it was 1c white sugar and 1 c water. Bring to a boil over medium WITHOUT STIRRING. Continue boiling for 15-20 minutes, still no stirring. Warm 1c heavy cream in the microwave for 45 seconds. Stir into sugar mixture and let cool. The problem with this one is that I took the recipe at face value, and it started to burn at about 12 minutes. I’m a pretty good cook and baker in general, but I never considered making something like caramel sauce until I became too poor (new apartment, way higher rent) to want to spend the money on bottled coffee flavor. I didn’t realize it would be that finnicky, so I didn’t research too much. All the recipes I read after the first disaster said it’s easy enough, but you really have to watch it, because it goes from good to burned in literally seconds! ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caramel-makers-wet-or-dry/665284/6 "2013-08-05T16:31:55Z")
I use wet because it’s much less finicky and you can conceivably step away for a few seconds (JUST a few seconds!) with no ill effects.