This Vietnamese caramel shrimp recipe from Closet Cooking is the perfect opportunity to try your hand at using caramel in a savory dish. "Simmering or braising in nuoc mau (Vietnamese caramel sauce) is fairly common in Vietnamese cuisine." Kevin, the blog's proprietor, uses a relatively simple recipe to make the caramel and sauté the shrimp. Once you make the caramel, the dish comes together in less than ten minutes. Follow Kevin's example and serve it over coconut jasmine rice so it soaks up all that salty-sweet saucy goodness....
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Hayley, of Buff Chickpea, sought to re-create a caramel cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory for her friend's birthday, but I think she one-upped them and made something that looks better than anything I've ever had from the place. Using a recipe from Genesis of a Cook, she succeeded in baking something that "stole the show." With pieces of toffee dotting the creamy interior and a layer of homemade caramel dripping down the sides, there's enough here for everyone....
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Barbara Fisher of Tigers and Strawberries on Nuoc Mau, the essential Vietnamese sauce: "It is what gives depth of flavor and color to kno dishes, which are earthy, homey braises of meats, tofu or seafood. Salty with fish sauce, these dishes are meant to be eaten with plenty of rice, but the salt flavor is balanced by the smoke-tinged sweetness of this home made, darkly browned caramel sauce." She provides both a recipe for Nuoc Mao and a step-by-step walkthrough with photos, to make preparation of this "simple, but not easy staple of the Vietnamese kitchen" as painless as possible....
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