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Jan. 10th, 2010
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Jan. 10th, 2010 02:39 pmIf you make your fudge with marshmallows or powdered sugar, it's not really fudge. I just feel like everyone should know that. I also feel like they should know that making real fudge, the good stuff, is not really very hard. All you really need is a good thermometer to clip to the side of the pot. You can even control the texture--if you like it a little hard and crumbly (like I do… the very first fudge I had was some my mother had boiled too long, and the idea that fudge should be hard stuck for a long time) you cook it up to the top end of the soft ball range, and if you like it softer (like most commercial fudge) you cook it up to the middle or lower end of the range.
It is good. No, it's delicious. And it has no damn marshmallows in it, because real fudge doesn't.
Sorry. I know I sound like a complete lunatic, and I kind of am, but it drives me crazy that people think marshmallows are a necessary ingredient in fudge. Confectionary is just not as incredibly hard as people think it is. Yes, there is boiling hot sugar syrup, and yes, it will hurt like a sonofabitch if some splashes on you. On the other hand, as long as you're not an idiot, it won't splash on you. All you have to do is adjust the temperature to keep it from boiling too enthusiastically. Yes, hot sugar can be temperamental, and when it starts to set up things move pretty fast. On the other hand, if you're stirring the fudge as it cools like you're supposed to, the change in texture is pretty easy to notice, and the only trick is to start pouring it a little bit before you think it's ready. All it requires is a little attention. I recognize that I'm a little crazy, since I want to make hard candy but cannot for the lack of some specialized equipment. (Someday when I'm filthy rich, I will have the stand mixer for homemade marshmallows, and the marble slab and the hook and the special gloves for pulling hot sugar.) But really, fudge is pretty accessible. I've been making it since I was a teenager, and it has never been as difficult as, say, meringues. Meringues are delicious, but egg whites are capricious.
Anyway, try making the real stuff some time.
It is good. No, it's delicious. And it has no damn marshmallows in it, because real fudge doesn't.
Sorry. I know I sound like a complete lunatic, and I kind of am, but it drives me crazy that people think marshmallows are a necessary ingredient in fudge. Confectionary is just not as incredibly hard as people think it is. Yes, there is boiling hot sugar syrup, and yes, it will hurt like a sonofabitch if some splashes on you. On the other hand, as long as you're not an idiot, it won't splash on you. All you have to do is adjust the temperature to keep it from boiling too enthusiastically. Yes, hot sugar can be temperamental, and when it starts to set up things move pretty fast. On the other hand, if you're stirring the fudge as it cools like you're supposed to, the change in texture is pretty easy to notice, and the only trick is to start pouring it a little bit before you think it's ready. All it requires is a little attention. I recognize that I'm a little crazy, since I want to make hard candy but cannot for the lack of some specialized equipment. (Someday when I'm filthy rich, I will have the stand mixer for homemade marshmallows, and the marble slab and the hook and the special gloves for pulling hot sugar.) But really, fudge is pretty accessible. I've been making it since I was a teenager, and it has never been as difficult as, say, meringues. Meringues are delicious, but egg whites are capricious.
Anyway, try making the real stuff some time.