To get the sugar caramelized to that perfect dark brown, I start the sugar on the stove top and finish in the oven.
I start by adding a bit of water and some corn syrup (the fructose makes the brown more intense, but one can skip it) to the sugar and keep it on a medium burner until it reaches the first caramel stage, at 155°C/311°F. As Michael notes, the sugar can go very fast from this stage to burnt. To avoid this, I place the pan in an oven that has been pre-heated to 180°C/356°F, just above the dark caramel stage. Checking every two minutes with an infrared thermometer (more often as it gets closer to 177°C/350°F), it's easy to get the sugar to the right temperature.
This post describes the method in more detail.
Yield: Approximately 1½ cups
Ingredients
Making Caramel - Method 1 (Wet Method)
1 cups (200 grams) granulated sugar
¼ cup (60 ml) water
Making Caramel - Method 2 (Dry Method)
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
For the Caramel Sauce:
Caramel
¾ cup (178 ml) heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter
½-1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, seeds removed from the pod (optional)
2 tablespoons whiskey (optional)
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**Instructions**
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Making Caramel - Method 1 (Wet Method):
Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Allow sugar to melt and bring to a boil. Let the mixture caramelize and wait for it to turn dark amber in color. Do not stir, swirl pan as needed to promote even caramelization.
Making Caramel - Method 2 (Dry Method):
Sprinkle sugar evenly on the bottom of a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Allow sugar to melt and caramelize, swirling as necessary to promote even caramelization. Do not stir.
To make the Caramel Sauce:
As soon as the caramel is dark amber in color, immediately remove it from the heat and slowly add the heavy cream while whisking constantly. Caramel will bubble violently.
Return mixture to medium heat and simmer until any clumps have dissolved and
mixture is smooth.
Remove from heat and stir in butter and salt. Add vanilla extract and if desired, vanilla bean and whiskey.
Best Answer
You ask about coating, but it is actually not very important. There are other criteria with much higher priority when you are making caramel or other types of candy. The important thing about pan when making caramel is even heating. Especially when making your caramel dry, you cannot afford hot spots, because you cannot stir. But if you are taking the candy into the later caramel stages, even heating becomes important for syrup-started candy too.
You need a responsive pan if you are making caramel. Sadly, the most evenly heating pans are also the least responsive and vice versa. I would never make caramel on a resistive stove in iron, but I use a small enamelled Dutch oven for caramel on my induction plate. A good sandwiched steel with an aluminum core should offer a decent tradeoff between evenness and responsiveness on most stove types.
You also need the correct size pan. If your caramel is less than 1 cm deep, it is very hard to handle without burning it. If it is deeper than 5 cm, there is too much of a heat gradient in the depth. Choose the pan diameter such that your caramel depth will be between 1 and 5 cm roughly.
If you are going to add any kind of liquid to the caramel (or butter), you'll experience lots of foam. You need a deep walled vessel to catch this foam. Use a deep sauce pan or a small pot instead of a frying pan. You want 10 cm wall above the caramel level.
Aside from a seasoned cast iron pan, I haven't experienced a coating adsorbing flavors. PTFE, ceramic, enamel, anodized alu or no coating - none of them matters. Use whatever you have handy. For cleaning, follow Elendil's advice for dissolving the smears in hot water.