Yeah you read right. Duck fat caramels. Legit meat candy.
Now, while these decadent caramels don’t actually taste like meat (duck fat is very neutral) they do have an incredible silky texture. Because of the high fat content, these caramels do have a slicker touch than butter caramels and soften quickly at room temp. If you can, try to get fleur de sel for the salt, it’s a large grained French salt traditionally used in salted caramels and has a much mellower and rounded burst of flavor than cooking salt, but regular salt will of course do the job. You also must have a candy thermometer for this recipe.
FYI – these are even better than they look.
Recipe after the pics.
Recipe: Salted Duck Fat Caramels with Vanilla Bourbon
- Yield: makes 40-50 candies 1x
Ingredients
1c heavy cream
5 tbsp duck fat
1½ c white sugar
¼ c corn syrup
3 tsp fleur de sel (salt)
2 tsp vanilla extract or one vanilla bean
dash of bourbon
Instructions
- Line a loaf pan or square/rectangular cake tin with oiled greaseproof paper.
- Gently melt duck fat & cream on the stove or microwave, set aside.
- Put corn syrup, sugar and enough water to just moisten the sugar in a deep saucepan (it bubbles when you add the fat). Boil without stirring until the mix reaches 320f.
- Take sugar mixture off heat, slowly pour in melted cream/fat mix and stir. Return to heat and cook until it hits 250f. If you prefer your caramels firmer, go to 260f.
- When it comes to temp, remove from heat, quickly stir in bourbon, vanilla and half the salt, then pour into waiting pan.
- After 10-20 mins, sprinkle remaining salt over the top to garnish.
- Once cool (at least two hours), cut into squares and wrap in pieces of greaseproof paper. You can run a knife under hot water or spray with oil to help cut through the block.
- The caramels are quite soft from the duck fat. They can be stored in the fridge and will soften within 10 mins once removed.
