my cooked sugar & water mixture when I added the cream and began stirring it in. Hmmm, I'm thinking that was the probable sign that things had crystallized--would that be an accurate assumption? I don't remember any such 'scale' on top of my first batch of caramel.

Now if I use the "dry" method, I should cook the 1 cup sugar until it turns dark amber. Then would the 1/3 cup water in the recipe be added along with the 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp cream? Then the butter would be stirred in?

Thanks for the major hint about when to stir and when not to stir, charlie==>

Going from the pie recipe directions, I did stir while the sugar was dissolving in the water over low heat, but then I did not stir after turning up the heat to caramelize the mixture. I know I stirred while the sugar was dissolving in the water so maybe I stirred longer than I ought to have.

Then the recipe says to turn up the heat and boil--does that mean it's okay to flip to high heat, or should you just go to medium and wait patiently until things begin to bubble? With my 2nd batch, I know I used high heat because I had made a double batch, and I wanted to finish the 2 pies before the sun came up.

Very interesting about David Lebovitz's advice from Gay's recommended article that the dry method is safer, i.e., less temperamental. I know I read the opposite someplace else. Oh, well.

Gay, thanks for the article on David Lebovitz. You reminded me that he was a co-author in THE BAKER'S DOZEN COOKBOOK, and sure enough, he wrote out a more detailed explanation of the 'wet' method on page 338. Right off the top I went wrong as I put the sugar in my pan first and then added the water, and he says to always add the water before putting in the sugar.

And your lemon juice hint is superb, charlie! I simply thought lemon juice appeared in some caramel recipes for its flavor, but now I realize it's an interfering agent to help prevent crystalline molecules from linking together. Ah, the science of it all! This I just happened across in COOKING A TO Z--Jane Horn, Editor.

I'm so glad to finally have learned some details from FinerKitchens on both the 'wet' method as well as the 'dry' method explained in the David Lebovitz article Gay pointed me to.

Thanks so much for all your help, Charlie & Gay! Charlie, I had no idea that a single sugar crystal in a "clean" pan could wreak havoc so I'll be sure to do a better scrubbing job before my next attempt.