Caramel Sauce - Charles Phan

By norsegal8

If you are familiar with French food, you know all about the mother sauces, the building blocks of all classical French cuisine. In Vietnam, caramel sauce plays the same role. I don't want to overstate the importance of this recipe, but this combination of water, sugar and fish sauce is so good, so right, and such an integral part of so many Vietnamese dishes, from Caramelized Shrimp to Pork Claypot with Young Coconut Juice, that you need to make a batch right away. Sugar and fish sauce are used with abandon in the food of Vietnam. The sugar balances the funk of the fish sauce, and the fish sauce tempers the cloying character of the sugar.
As the story goes, there was once a young academic who came from a poor family but desperately wanted to go to university in the city. He had no money, but he set out on his journey with a bottle of caramel sauce. He was too poor to afford meat, but he didn't want to give himself away as a broke bumpkin, so he carved a fish out of wood, and at every meal, he would pour the caramel sauce over the wooden fish and some rice and then pretend to eat the fish. What's the moral here? Well obviously, it's that the sauce is what is important, not the fish. Or, alternatively, the sauce is so good that it has the power to transform a wooden fish. Either way, you should have this in your pantry at all times. You can make a large batch because it keeps well, unrefrigerated, for a few months. That way, you are more likely to have it on hand for making any of the dozens of Vietnamese recipes that call for a small amount.
Although you can make caramel sauce with white sugar, you must slowly caramelize before adding the fish sauce. I use light brown palm sugar, which is available in most Asian markets. Starting with palm sugar makes the process go a little bit faster, and there is less of a threat of ending up with a scorched mess.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds light brown palm sugar, chopped into pieces
• 2 1/2 cups fish sauce

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

1. Make the Caramel Sauce: In a heavy-bottom 4-quart pot, gently melt the sugar over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. This will take 10 to 12 minutes. Do not be tempted to rush the process or you may scorch the sugar.

2. When the sugar is lump free, completely melted and just beginning to boil, remove the pan from the heat and very slowly pour in the fish sauce while stirring constantly. Be careful, as it will bubble furiously.

3. Use the sauce right away or let cool completely, transfer to an airtight container, and store in a cool cupboard for up to 3 months.