South America: Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay
Dulce de leche literally known as ‘milk candy’ and it is the traditional dessert in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and other parts of South America. This dessert has its own legend, which by default is attached to a history. It is history because it is attached to the residence of, Juan Manuel de Rosas, the 19th Century Argentinean politician and it is a legend because people say that the maid at Rosa’s house was preparing lechada, milk and sugar caramelized together, and she left lechada on the stove to answer a call on the door and by the time she returned it had burnt and turned into a highly caramelized jam called as milk candy. The process of making this exotic burnt jam is as follows:
1. For every liter of milk you need 300g of sugar. In a heavy-bottomed pan, combine sugar and milk; cook this mixture, with a cinnamon stick or vanilla beans. Cook this mixture on low flame, stirring continuously. You are to caramelize sugar in milk and not scorch the milk itself.
2. You need to dissolve half teaspoon of baking soda in a tablespoon of water, followed by addition of this solution to the milk mixture (the mixture should taken off the heat while adding soda). Cook until the mixture takes a caramel brown color and the consistency reduces from 1/2 to 1/4
3. Store it in an air tight container and fill it in pancakes or crepes to get a complete Argentinean dessert.
Milk Candy or Dulce de leche is also eaten as a dessert or as a jam in France, Spain and North America. This dessert is formed by Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction that is responsible for many of the flavors of cooked food and this good old flavor is used as flavor in Haagen-Dazs ice cream. So what if it is not exciting to look or cook, it might give more sight than food porn and it is loved by the South Americans.
