Prepare all your ingredients before you start, we need everything ready to go.
Scrape your vanilla pod and place the seeds into the cream. (save the vanilla pod and place it into a jar with some sugar for some vanilla-infused sugar)
Heat your vanilla cream mixture either in the microwave or on the stovetop. (no boiling just warm)
Using a large saucepan (one that can hold 2.8 liters will do) place your sugar in one even layer. Heat on medium heat. Do not stir or touch it. It will start to melt unevenly, first around the edges and then larger areas. When you see larger areas of sugar melting start to swirl the pan around encouraging the wetter areas to mix with the dry sugar until all sugar has melted. Make sure you swirl the melted sugar around the edges to catch any stray sugar crystals, you can also use a pastry brush dipped in water to help with this.
What you do next is up to you. How dark you take the caramel is your choice. We like to push it as far as we can without burning it. Once we see little bubbles release smoke l (looks like reddish like a rusted penny) we let it go a moment longer and then take it off. This produces a less sweet, more bitter caramel with a much more complex interesting flavor. If you would like more of a traditional caramel take it off the heat once it reaches an amber color. You can even take it off before that if you want a lighter sweeter caramel.
When you are ready to stop the cooking process remove from the heat and wear your kitchen mitts. Gently stream in your warmed cream whisking at the same time. Be very careful the mixture will bubble up aggressively.
Whisk in your butter a cube at a time make sure the butter is fully incorporated before adding the next cube.
Add your sea salt.
Let mixture cool down in a heatproof glass container, cover with an airtight lid and place in the fridge for up to a month. When ready to use reheat amount in a microwave or on stovetop to your desired consistency.
