No one's sure who started it, the Argentinians or the French, but the idea was brilliant nonetheless. Take the day's fresh whole milk and cook it with a little sugar until it's burnished, sweet and sticky.
What separates this from caramel is the depth of flavor you get from the slow cooking of the milk...the flavor is far more complex and sophisticated than your average caramel sauce. Since it contains far more milk than sugar, it's not overwhelmingly sweet.
The Argentinians call it Dulce de Leche, or "Sweet Milk". The French from Normandy call it Confiture du Lait, or "Milk Jam".
We call it the best thing on Earth.
The artisans at La Salamandra have been producing dulce de leche with milk from their own cows for over 20 years. The fresh milk is piped from the milking stations into their facility next door where the process begins. The key with dulce de leche is to cook it slowly. The milk needs to reduce at the same rate as the sugar caramelizes to produce a thick, sweet sauce that requires no preservatives or additives.
We adore the classic Dulce de Leche from La Salamandra. In Argentina, it is more common than peanut butter. Because it's made from fresh milk and has all the nutrients locked-in, it is given to children as a snack, simply spread on a piece of bread. We like to take it further and toast the bread, spread a thick layer of dulce de leche and slice a banana on top.
More common still is the alfajor...imagine an Argentinian Oreo. They take two shortbread-like cookies and sandwich them around a thick layer of dulce de leche. The origins of the alfajor lie in the Middle East, and Arab settlers in Spain then brought the recipe to South America where it has taken on new life! The cookies can be found on nearly every street corner in Buenos Aires.
And no discussion of dulce de leche would be complete without mention of the Rogel. It's an over-the-top cake constructed of layers of crispy discs of pastry, gobs of dulce de leche and a thick blanket of meringue that gets torched to golden-brown perfection. We have a recipe here, courtesy of the experts at La Salamandra.
NEW! Chocolate Dulce de Leche
We respect a producer that does one thing and does it perfectly. So the addition of dark chocolate to our dear dulce de leche seemed unnecessary...why mess with perfection?One spoonful and we were eating our words. And then another spoonful. And another. And another. It is the perfect combination; milk and chocolate go together beautifully, as do caramel and chocolate, so if you can combine those three by blending pure dark chocolate into the creamy dulce de leche...all the better.
We took the salted caramel/salted chocolate trend to a whole new level just last week. A thick slice of sourdough bread, toasted to perfection and slathered with a judicious layer of chocolate dulce de leche and finished with a few flakes of Maldon salt. You will love it poured over vanilla ice cream but for us, it's coffee ice cream. The bittersweet notes of the coffee make this a perfect match.
Order a jar of the Classic Dulce de Leche for $13.00, the Chocolate for $14.50 or both for $25.00!
CALLING ALL CHERRY LOVERS NEW SIZE AVAILABLE
The Amarena of Cantiano is the wild black cherry of the Marche region of Italy. It's a tiny dark red cherry with lots of juice and a rich, sweet pulp. The Lupatelli family of Morello Austera preserves them in a lightly spiced syrup with cinnamon, clove and almond oil. The result is a sweet, rich treat that is perfect for topping cheesecakes, panna cotta or ice cream.
We've completely rid our bar of maraschino cherries, in favor of these. Not only are they free of the coloring, preservatives and artificial flavors found in most maraschino cherries, they bring a richer flavor to your favorite cocktails...or Shirley Temples.
We've been able to secure a small quantity of the larger jar for the serious cherry lovers out there. If the orders we get for cherries by the case are any indication, there are quite a few of you!
It's the same jar as you see here, but over three times the size! That's 1000 grams of cherries!
Order the "normal" jar for $14.00 or the "cherry lover" jar for $38.00
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