How to caramelize carrots. Caramelized carrots are a dish for real gourmets. How to properly caramelize

Sweet, delicious caramelized baby carrots are a unique side dish. It amazes with its simplicity, because you don’t expect anything incredible from such a dish, because it often seems that the taste of the dish directly depends on the effort and time spent on it, and the more ingredients included in its composition, the better the final result should be .

But this is absolutely not true when it comes to cooking, because here the most delicious dishes are always based on the highest quality, fresh products - this is the key to success. A striking example is caramelized carrots: if you cook them once, you will remember them forever, love them and appear on your table more than once.

Caramelized carrots are incredibly tasty: sweet, aromatic, soft and tender, but elastic at the same time. The whole secret of such a tasty dish is that carrots themselves are a sweet vegetable, and therefore all combinations with sweet ingredients will certainly be successful. In addition, the carrots retain their vitamins and bright, appetizing color, and are topped with a glossy caramel sauce. This dish looks very attractive!

You can serve caramelized carrots in completely different ways. It can be a hot appetizer, an appetizing side dish as an alternative to the usual potatoes, salad or vegetable puree, and it can also be an independent dish. In this form, even children will eat it with appetite, because it tastes so much like candy.

It is best to caramelize carrots immediately before serving, and you can cook them in two ways - in a frying pan or in the oven. Choose the one that is more convenient for you, and the result will be stunning in any case. To prepare the dish, give preference to small young root vegetables - about 10-12 cm long.

Ingredients

250 grams of young carrots
30 grams butter
1 tbsp. spoon of sugar
0.5 teaspoon cinnamon
a pinch of salt

Yield: 2 servings as a side dish and 1 serving as a main dish

Preparation

First prepare the carrots. If you are using young carrots, just wash them thoroughly under running water with a hard sponge. If the carrots are old, then remove the peel from the fruit. Cut off the remaining petioles.

Boil water in a large saucepan and boil the carrots in it for 7-8 minutes until half cooked.

While the carrots are cooking, start making the caramel. To do this, melt the butter in a frying pan, adding sugar and salt.

When the sugar has dissolved a little, add cinnamon to the caramel.

Caramelization is a culinary process in which vegetables or fruits are simmered in sugar syrup. This principle is used when processing fruits; as for vegetables, a different technology is used here - vegetables are simmered in the “sugar” that comes out of them. A striking example of this technology is caramelized carrots, which as a result acquire an appetizing color and bright taste.

How to properly caramelize

To master the technique the first time, and the dish to turn out delicious, you need to know a few secrets of proper caramelization. A properly prepared product can be an ideal addition to any side dish or component of a delicious dish.

Secrets regarding the caramelization technique:

In order for the vegetable to release a sufficient amount of sugar for caramelization, you need to choose young root vegetables that are representatives of the juicy variety.
When slicing, you should adhere to the fact that the size of the pieces should be medium. Small slices may burn, but large ones will not cook through.
In order for the vegetable to cook faster and release the required amount of sugar, you must first boil the product until half cooked.

Caramelization of carrots is carried out in accordance with these rules, since they are basic for any vegetable. They must be followed to get a tasty dish.

The principle of caramelizing carrots

The simplest recipe for glazing root vegetables requires a minimum of ingredients and only takes half an hour to prepare. It is better to use very young carrots. You will need approximately 0.5 kilograms. You need to wash the vegetable thoroughly. You don't have to cut the cuttings too short.

Additionally you will need the following products:

Half a stick of butter.
Spices.
Thyme.
Dessert spoon of sugar.

Recipe for caramelized carrots 15 minutes before guests arrive:

Melt the butter in a well-heated frying pan.
Place carrots in oil and lightly sprinkle with sugar.
Approximate cooking time is 5-10 minutes. You need to gradually turn the carrots so that the vegetable is evenly caramelized.
1 minute before cooking, season the food with spices and add a sprig of thyme to the oil.

Carrots should be served with the sauce in which the root vegetable was stewed.

Universal glazed carrots

There is a universal recipe with a photo of caramelized carrots. The piquant taste and unusual combination of ingredients make this sweet delicacy a suitable side dish for any dish and a unique dessert component.

Suitable Products:

0.5 kilograms of young carrots.
150 grams of butter.
Salt.
A teaspoon of cinnamon.
Dessert spoon of sugar.

All-purpose caramelized carrots are prepared as follows:

Boil the peeled carrots until half cooked.
Melt butter in a saucepan, add sugar and cinnamon.
Place carrots, previously dried and already boiled, into the piquant creamy mixture. Immediately add a little salt.
Cook for 5 minutes, constantly turning the root vegetables to ensure even caramelization.

Serve the dish while still hot.

Carrots glazed in a pan

The classic recipe is when the root vegetable is caramelized in a saucepan. To recreate the recipe you will need the following products:

250 grams of carrots.
A piece of butter.
Half a glass of meat broth.
A tablespoon of sugar.
A tablespoon of vinegar.

Caramelized is prepared as follows:

Place the prepared carrots in a saucepan.
Pour broth over the vegetable, add spices and vinegar.
Wait until the dish boils, and then, reducing the heat, simmer for about 20 minutes.

The syrup should thicken and the carrots should change color to golden. During the stewing process, the carrots will become soft, but will not change their original shape. Bon appetit!

21.01.2015

Caramelization. How to Caramelize Carrots and Other Foods- this is a recipe article in which I will show and tell you in detail and with photos how to caramelize vegetables, fruits and even meat. My first recipe on this blog - , in it the onions are also caramelized before they are added to the broth, which gives the French soup a unique taste, this first course is a godsend! Caramelization- this is not just a kitchen process, this is real chemistry. By caramelizing, for example, vegetables, you can “extract” a sufficient amount of sugar from them and turn a simple dish into a real masterpiece. What is caramelization. How to caramelize foods, I will outline in this post. A caramelized carrots will be a good example. Plus, it's a wonderful original garnish, filled with the taste and sweetness of the vegetable itself.

Ingredients

- 2 bundles or 8 pcs (young)
- 50 gr

Cooking method

Caramelization is the process of oxidizing sugars when they are heated, and in simple terms in cooking it is simmering a product in sugar syrup. But that is not all. There is caramelization with the addition of sugar, and there is a way to “extract” sugar from the product itself, so that in the future it languishes in it. Let's consider the second option using caramelized carrots as an example. We prepare a couple of bunches of beautiful young carrots - they are very sweet, they contain the largest amount of sugar. We peel them, wash them and cut them into medium-sized cubes.
To speed up the cooking and caramelization process, initially you need to boil it a little. Place the chopped carrots in boiling water and cook for 6 minutes after boiling.
After the carrots have cooked a little, drain all the water through a colander, transfer it to clean ice water, drain the water again through a colander and leave it aside for a while.
In order for the caramelization process to be most successful, you should take a cast iron frying pan, which maintains the desired temperature as much as possible throughout the entire process. We put it on high heat and warm it well for a few minutes, then reduce the heat to medium, pour in a little olive oil and put a generous piece of butter in it. We wait until the butter melts.
Place the carrots in the pan and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly. The carrots should become soft, but not fall apart.
Halfway through the process, season with thyme, salt and pepper.
Serve as a side dish for meat or fish. This time I prepared and poured it with spicy chimichurri sauce . It turned out very tasty!
You can caramelize other vegetables using this principle. For example, caramelized onions, as I said above, make delicious French onion soup . Onions and leeks should not be boiled in advance, but should be simmered for about half an hour. And a set of vegetables such as onions, carrots, celery and garlic can become an excellent soup base if it is caramelized well and for a long time.
In addition to caramelizing vegetables, you can also caramelize fruits, but in this case you must stick to the option with added sugar and keep the fruits in the pan for no longer than 10 minutes so that they do not lose their taste. Stewed fruit, as you can imagine, will not be tasty. To do this, heat the frying pan, pour sugar into a dry frying pan and wait until it turns yellow and turns into caramel. Add water (1/3 of the amount of sugar), mix well, wait a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Add chopped fruit and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. You can add cinnamon, vanilla or other seasonings that you like. By the way, the exact same procedure can be carried out with meat so that it is covered with a sweet, golden caramel crust, only it is better to use butter instead of water.

That's all the secrets. I really hope the article " Caramelization. how to caramelize carrots and other foods" will be useful to you. And caramelized carrots was a great success. Now you know how to properly caramelize foods, so experiment and, of course, enjoy your food!

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