Yesterday I saw a "quick and easy caramel sauce" that used the microwave and sweetened condensed milk so, as I had two cans of different brands of sweetened condensed milk to try for something or other, I decided to use one of them.
The video online said to put the sweetened condensed milk in a jar and cook for five minutes in the microwave. I thought I would avoid having it boil up and spew out over the top so I only had the jar half full. This is the results:
The jar is virtually, empty with milk around the outside and with the turntable completely covered, as was under the turntable. So I washed out the microwave. My sister is coming, after all, and I do want the place to look nice. The microwave was already in pretty good shape since Dear One keeps up with it. Now it has been thoroughly cleaned.
It was a mystery to me why this happened so I looked at the can. It was actually Condensed Milk Creamer, not Condensed Milk. It was made with skim milk, sugar, palm oil, and other ingredients. No wonder it was a disaster. It was not even a real thing!
So I tried again with the second can. Which really was Sweetened Condensed Milk with only milk and sugar in it. I had high hopes. I also put this batch in a quart jar, just in case.
When it had been cooking for a little over four minutes I heard a snapping, crackling sound and rushed over to see what was up.
This is what was up:
Oh, no! And no wonder the first batch flew up over the top of the pint jar it was in if this batch got up to the top of a quart jar.
Just in case it was not really spoiled/burned to a crisp, I scraped it out of the jar into a bowl. It is a nasty mess, but it does not taste burned. (Once I went to a potluck lunch when I was working at Dartmouth College. Someone had brought a flan with the caramelized sugar really burned. It was so sad because the flan was delicious until you took that first spoonful and tasted the burned sugar.)
So, I have learned a few things. Maybe.
1. READ THE LABELS!!! REALLY READ THE LABELS. Success is much more likely if you start with the ingredients you are expecting.
2. Don't trust what you see on the internet. Especially if it is a short (30-second!) video with only a little text giving you the crux of the matter. That crux is not really all you need to know.
3. Don't imagine because one person's microwave takes five minutes to turn Sweetened Condensed Milk into creamy caramel sauce that your microwave will take the same amount of time. If I had had a little more time I would have purchased yet a third can of the Eagle Brand this time and tried again.
Instead of caramel sauce, I guess we will have whipped cream on the pumpkin cheesecake. Unless I have some actually caramel sauce hidden in the cupboard...
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