I need advice on cooking caramel?

On holidays my mother made this very sweet deleicious dessert, it was carried on from dutch and german traditions, She made hommade caramel, She boiled a can of milk, it was Eaglebrand milk in a can, not carnation, she removed the label from the can and boiled the whole can without opeing it, in water, for 2 hours on low heat, then she put in refrig, and then opened it at dinner time, it came out as caramel, how she do it? It was a rich soo sweet caramel, you sliced it, just like cranberry, and put on plate, I fail everytime, sombody help me? She is deceased so she cant help me, I need a professional cook to help me figure this one out?

I need advice on cooking caramel?
That's exactly like dulce de leche.



Basically, take a can of sweetened condensed milk, take off the label, get a pot full of water (so that the can is fully submerged) and bring it to a boil, and then pop the can in and leave it for about 2 hours. You don't want a rolling boil, but somewhere between a simmer and a boil. And you want to make sure the can is fully submerged the entire time, so you'll want to add water every now and then.



You'll want to let it cool before handling. Serve it warm, say on ice cream, or cold if you want.
Reply:cook it very slow and on low make sure it don't burn.
Reply:It's dulce de leche. I never heard of it until I found Haagen-Dazs' ice cream by the same name. It is wonderful.



Here is a link about it (the link to the recipe is at the top of the page). It says on the site (and I've read it elsewhere, too) to use caution when making this; otherwise, the can could explode during the cooking process.
Reply:sugar,water, and butter
Reply:Eagel brand makes both sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk in cans. You MUST use the sweetened condensed milk to make the caramel. The evaporated milk isn't sweetened like the condensed and just won't work.
Reply:You mother used condensed milk which contains a lot of sugar. I have made a caramel sauce the same way, but I have never cooked it long enough to make a solid caramel.