This is one of the more important base sauces for Vietnamese cooking, but making it ranked right up there with the apprehension of pulling a sheet pan completely full of 400 degree oil out of the oven. I mean what kind of recipe calls for you to heat a cup of sugar with a 1/4 cup of water until it starts to smoke, then pour water on top of it? If you get it right though, and manage to not start a fire or coat yourself in culinary napalm, you create a rich, slightly viscous caramel sauce with rich, earthy notes of coffee and a hint of charred bitter flavor. You'll need a stainless steel pot, and I'd suggest stopping up some cold water in your sink.
Ingredients:
1 C sugar
1/4 C + 1/2 C water
Mix together the sugar and 1/4 C of water in the pot, and put over medium low. Stir some until the sugar has dissolved, then leave it alone. Cook it for a good long time ( ~20 minutes depending on heat) as the color goes from clear to pale golden to amber. From this point watch it continuously, and when it starts to smoke slightly swirl it around in the pan. Be careful! It's called culinary napalm for a reason! Continue cooking and swirling until it turns the color of molasses.
Immediately remove it from the heat, plunge the bottom of the pot into the water in the sink, and pour the 1/2 C of water into the sugar. It's going to be pretty spectacular, it's going to splatter, and you might get hit with some of that splatter. Keep your face away, and when it dies down return the pot to the heat just long enough to ensure that all of the sugar melts in to the water. The sauce will keep indefinitely without refrigeration.
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