Salted Caramels

I spend lots of time dreaming up multifaceted desserts worthy of a four-star table. My taste, however, is for the seemingly simple things, where a few ingredients add up to something way beyond the sum of their parts. Case in point: soft salted caramels. A cousin to the cellophane-wrapped cubes we all know, the salt-enriched caramels one finds in France are my standard-bearer. I developed my own version for Le Bernardin's post-dinner mignardises (bite-size desserts), infusing the cream with sea salt and vanilla bean and topping each morsel with a few coarse grains of salt for an added flavor "pop." These caramels are creamy, rich, and perfectly accented by the salt—the edible definition of synergy. —Michael Laiskonis, Le Bernardin, New York City