Why Carla Hall Uses A Glass Lid When Making Caramel

Caramel sauce might be the perfect dessert sauce. It almost seems like it's made to pour over ice cream, adding it to a brownie adds a bit of decadence, and a slice of apple pie is complete with a nice, thick drizzle. Homemade caramel sauce can be tastier than buying a jar from the store, but making a batch on the stove requires some patience. If you're not careful, it can get overcooked, causing it to become gritty.

Best-selling author and chef Carla Hall recently made a stir on the internet when she spilled her secret for making the sticky, sweet dessert sauce foolproof. The celebrity chef known for her comforting dishes, has wowed home cooks with her latest hack to making the perfect caramel sauce. According to People, Hall shared her tip for making perfect caramel sauce each and every time. And "The Chew" alum swears by a specific piece of cookware when whipping up the sauce.

A glass lid might not seem that important, but Hall explains that it's useful in the caramelization process (via People). Making caramel requires sugar, along with a few other ingredients, and cooking sugar can be a tricky process. When sugar melts and transforms into a smooth, brown color, that's the caramelization process at work, but as noted in Fine Cooking, sugar can quickly crystallize when its cooking, which results in a grainy sauce.

As Playful Cooking explains, using a glass lid on top of a heavy-bottomed sauce pan helps keep the sugar from crystallizing. That's because a glass lid creates condensation inside the pan, causing the water to drip from the sides of the pan and that wet environment helps prevent sugar crystallization. This simple step can rescue you from a potential cooking failure and help keep your caramel sauce smooth and delicious.