Rick Bayless Cajeta. Ingredients. 2quartsgoats milk or a combination of goats milk and cows milkor even with all cows milk use whole milk in all cases2cupssugar. A 2 inch piece ofcinnamon stick,preferably Mexican canela. Instructions. In a medium large 6 quart pot preferably a Dutch oven or Mexican copper cazo, combine the milk, sugar and cinnamon stick and set over medium heat. Stir regularly until the milk comes to a simmer all the sugar should have dissolved by this point. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the dissolved baking sodaitll foam up if the goats milk is acidic. Cajeta De LecheWhen the bubbles subside, return the pot to the heat. Adjust the heat to maintain the mixture at a brisk simmer too high and the mixture will boil over too low and the cooking time will seem interminable. Cook, stirring regularly, until the mixture turns pale golden, more or less one hour. Now, begin stirring frequently as the mixture colors to caramel brown and thickens to the consistency of maple syrup youll notice the bubbles becoming larger and glassier. Stir regularly so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. Cajetas De Coco' title='Cajetas De Coco' />Test a couple of drops on a cold plate When cool, the cajeta should be the consistency of a medium thick caramel sauce. If the cooled cajeta is thicker almost like caramel candy, stir in a tablespoon or so of water and remove from the heat if too runny, keep cooking. Pour the cajeta through a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl or a wide mouth storage jar. When cool, cover and refrigerate until youre ready to serve. Warming the cajeta before serving a microwave oven is efficient here makes it extra delicious. Working Ahead Cajeta keeps for a month or more in the refrigerator. Keep it tightly covered to keep it from absorbing other flavors. This recipe is wrong as the prior reviewer wrote. I have always used epicurious recipes with amazing results but this cajeta turned out wayyyyy too sweet, even the. If youve never tasted cajeta, youre in for a luscious surprisea thick, gooey sauce reminiscent of dulce de leche, but exponentially more complex. My method will. To make the cajeta place the unopened can of milk in a heavy saucepan and cover completely with water. Over very low heat, cook at a bare quiver for 3 hours, adding. Cajeta is a goat milk caramel thats easy to make and delicious to eat. This article will give you detailed directions for making this simple, but scrumptious. Cajeta is a confection of thickened syrup usually made of sweetened caramelised goats milk. It is a type of dulce de leche, in Mexico it is considered a specialty of. I really enjoy watching your show Mexican culture is so interesting, and I LOVE to cook. I just ordered a Cazo de Cobre copper pan and intend to make Cajeta. Say goodbye to dulce de leche and hello to cajeta, its faster, easier, and more flavorful cousin. All you need is fresh goats milk and sugarno thermometer or. Cajeta CandySkip Dulce de Leche Cajeta Is All You NeedPhotographs Vicky WasikSome traditions are worth preserving. The slow fermentation of yeast to make bread, the methodical layering of butter and dough for a croissant, and the painstaking reduction of goats milk over the course of an afternoon to prepare cajetaa more complex and delicious form of Mexicos famed dulce de leche. Cajeta' title='Cajeta' />Cajeta, also known as dulce de leche, is a hispanic sweet thick milk caramel sauce or syrup. In Mexico this sweet confection is know as cajeta and in other Spanish. Such time honored rituals require dedication and lots of patience. Fresh Spinach Side Dish here. While I appreciate old timey techniques as much as the next girl, theres no reason anyone should be sweatin it out for three hours at the stove. Well, not when it comes to cajeta, anyway. Im talking 6. 0 minutes, tops. Just like dulce de leche, cajeta is a thick, sweet confection made from boiled milkgoats milk in the case of cajeta, and cows milk in the case of dulce. And, just like its cousin, cajeta is almost universally described as Mexican caramel. On the surface, that makes sense. Theyre both gooey and brown, with a similar sort of nuttiness. But its also a gross oversimplification that erases the unique attributes of Latin Americas dairy centric confections, which arent caramels at all. Quick crash course Caramel is a by product of thermal decomposition in sucrose, a lovely sort of decay that produces a wide range of carbon compounds with flavors that run the gamut from toasty to burned. Pure caramel is brittle and lean, as in the crispy top of a crme brle, but it can also be diluted and enriched by cream. The traditional point of caramelization is rather high, as sugar itself is dang stable at temperatures below 3. F. Thats how pastry peeps create so many boiled sugar candies that arent caramel colored or caramel flavored at all fondant cooked to about 2. F, marshmallows 2. F, nougat 2. 60F, saltwater taffy 2. F, or even crystal clear candy glass 3. F and snow white cotton candy 3. F. Compared to these non caramel sugar candies, dulce de leche and cajeta are cooked at even lower temperatures, with milk and sugar simmered at 2. F for the bulk of the process and climbing toward 2. F near the end. Relatively low heat ensures a mellow sweetness, free from the bitter edge of burned sugar. So where does all that toastymaltynutty color, flavor, and aroma come from The Maillard reaction, in particular the browning of lactose a disaccharide and lysine an amino acid more on that in a bit. The final defining feature that separates dulce and cajeta from caramel is the inclusion of baking soda an alkali. Elevating the milks p. H in the early stages of cooking may hasten the Maillard browning of lactose and lysine, but it has no impact on caramelization. To put that theory to the test, I combined 34 cup sugar and 34 teaspoon baking soda with a quart of water, then boiled it for an hour to see how alkalinity might affect caramelization over time. The result was a syrup that behaved no differently from one made without soda. In both cases, caramelization didnt occur until the syrup had reached a concentration of 9. F. The only difference The alkalized caramel tasted like soap. Baking soda doesnt create a soapy flavor in dulce de leche or cajeta because milk itself is slightly acidic, growing more so with prolonged exposure to heat. Its a beautifully balanced equation that allows baking soda to assist with Maillard browning early on, then slowly burn off in the plummeting p. H of boiling milk. Given how often Ive mentioned both dulce de leche and cajeta, its tempting to imagine theyre one and the same, reducing their differences to a matter of milk type. Hooo boy, would that be a mistake Broadly speaking, cows milk and goats milk may both contain sugar, fat, protein, and cholesterol, but their exact composition within each category is distinct. Most famously, goats milk is comparatively low in the sugar lactose. That makes goats milk easier to digest for those with lactose intolerance, and less likely to burn. Goats milk also contains a higher concentration of amino acids, with twice as much lysine and serine, in addition to more alanine, leucine, methionine, threonine, proline, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and valine, too. Now, before your eyes glaze over, heres the deal Those are the specific amino acids scientists credit with producing flavor and aroma in Maillard browning, creating notes of caramel lysine, almond phenylalanine, persimmon alanine, fried potatoes methionine, fresh dates serine, and rose tyrosine. Cows milk has these amino acids, too, but at lower levels, so the specific composition of dulce de leche tends toward glycine sweet, aspartic acid fruity, glutamic acid sour, and tryptophan not assigned any flavor. On top of that, goats milk has five times more cysteine, an amino acid associated with thermal stability and our perception of umami. So, compared to cows milk, goats milk is less likely to scorch or curdle, while doubling down on flavor and aroma and quintupling our sense of richness. In short, cajeta is everything you love about dulce de leche, but more delicious and easier to prepare. Thanks to its unique makeup low lactose, high cysteine, theres no need to babysit goats milk for hours over a low flame or stir continually to ensure that it wont scorchyou can toss in a vanilla bean, crank up the heat, give it a few lazy stirs, and have cajeta within 4. Although, to be totally honest, you do need to stir it a bit more consistently toward the end of cooking, when its thickened texture puts it at greater risk of burning. Added to that, most commercial goats milk is ultra pasteurized, a process that incidentally makes dairy more resistant to curdlingturning a problem for homemade ricotta into an asset for cajeta. Unlike caramel, cajeta isnt cooked to a specific temperature, but rather a specific consistency, al punto de cajeta. That translates as at the point of cajeta and indicates a mixture so thick, you can easily scrape it aside to see the bottom of the pot. That can be a frustratingly vague doneness cue for more precision obsessed cooks, but the truth is, a thermometer wont work here. Because cajeta needs a big pot to prevent overflow as it foams early on, by the time it reduces down to the desired consistency, its not deep enough to submerge the probe of a thermometer digital or analog without touching the bottom of the pot. Even if you transferred the mixture to a smaller container, youd struggle to get an accurate reading on a thermometer while trying to awkwardly scrape and stir the ever thickening cajeta around it. Fortunately, judging cajeta isnt a matter of science so much as tasteits done when you say it isFor a thin and saucy cajeta, stop cooking as soon as its thick enough to momentarily leave a clear trail in the wake of a spatula pulled across the bottom of the pot. For a lusciously thick cajeta, keep going until the trail stays open for a full second one one thousand. For a spreadable, peanut butterlike paste, the trail should last two full seconds. By three, the cajeta will cool into something akin to fudge. Im fond of the one second rule, which makes a cajeta thats like a thick sauce while warm, then soft and stretchy once cool like the center of a Rolo. Its thick enough to drizzle over ice cream or whip into your favorite frosting, but gooey enough for dipping apple slices or just licking straight off a spoon. And, since its relatively quick to whip up, you really should do all of the above without hesitation. Your next batch is less than an hour away.