Fleur De Sel Caramels

Sure, it's a bit overexposed in this day and age. Carelessly cavorting around town with shallow but ultra-famous celebs like Big Mac and Dorito. Getting mixed up in embarrassing tabloid-cover scandals involving high blood pressure and making people really thirsty. But all salt really wants to do is make things taste great. Salt is an artist at heart. It's the ultimate collaborator. The trouble comes when other foods take advantage of this kindness, riding its proverbial coattails to fame, fortune, and deliciousness, without contributing much in terms of taste and personality (I'm looking at you, bad Chinese takeout). But the things salt can do when it's shown due respect are utterly astonishing. For starters, check out our recent post on salt's collaboration with vegetables and time that resulted in one of the all-time masterpieces of gastronomy: the pickle. Now, via the currently booming world of artisanal salts, this brave little rock is starting to get the respect it deserves. We're seeing black, pink, smoked, and many other distinguished prefixes proudly joining the now-common sea and kosher on America's spice racks. The only problem is finding a dish deserving of such a rarefied mineral. After all, we can't be simply tossing that expensive Sel Gris de Guérande into a pot of boiling pasta water, now, can we? Well, for those with a bit of a sweet tooth, one particularly scrumptious way to showcase that fine salt, and one which makes for excellent holiday gift-giving, is this recipe for Fleur De Sel Caramel from Epicurious.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
  
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• Special equipment: parchment paper; a deep-fat thermometer

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly oil parchment.

Bring cream, butter, and fleur de sel to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.

Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan, until mixture is a light golden caramel.

Carefully stir in cream mixture (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248°F on thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into baking pan and cool 2 hours. Cut into 1-inch pieces, then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, twisting 2 ends to close.