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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Oh, fuuudge

Don't let those mishaps in the kitchen discourage you. December is a good time to make the leap into candymaking.

By Lindsey Nair

food writer Lindsey Nair

Food writer Lindsey Nair

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Grandma Nair could always be counted on to make at least one batch of fudge at Christmas.

When she reached her 80s and became too frail to stir the stiff confection herself, we'd each take a turn with the hot pot clutched in a kitchen towel between our knees.

Apparently, I became so accustomed to Grandma turning out perfect fudge that the art and skill were lost on me. When I messed up my first two batches last week, I had new appreciation for the grandmother I miss so much.

I'm ashamed it took me this long in life to tackle fudge, which must be the most popular candy made during the holidays. I'm a novice at candymaking in general, so December seemed a good time to make the leap.

Baking is a precise art, but some candies are even more difficult to perfect. Every professional candymaker I talked to has had -- and still has -- failures.

Georgia Crump, who owns Nuts & Sweet Things in the Roanoke City Market Building with her husband, Dean, said she often makes no-bake preacher cookies two or three times a day and still has a bad batch once in a while.

Bayla Sussman of Baylee's Best Chocolates in Roanoke County remembers her struggles with toffee.

"I had, I don't know, three or four total flops before I got the hang of it," she said.

John Schopp, who owns Edible Vibe Cafe in Rocky Mount and Center Stage Catering, teaches an advanced pastry course for the Culinary Institute at Virginia Western.

"I mess up all the time," he said. "And to me, and for the students, you don't really know it until you have messed it up every possible way."

Good chemistry

Our moms told us not to play with our food or ruin our dinners by eating too much sugar. I figure that two wrongs sometimes make a right, so I've been playing with my sugar.

I find it fascinating that one ingredient can be manipulated in so many ways to make an array of goodies. Yes, flavorings are added to make most candies, but it is the sugar itself -- and the temperature it achieves on the stove top -- that really dictate the result.

There's too much chemistry involved for an English major like me to explain in great detail. Generally speaking, though, sugar crystals dissolve at a high heat and reform when the solution cools down again.

Ingredients such as lemon juice and cream of tartar (acids), corn syrup (nonsucrose sugar) and butter (fat) are added to various candy recipes to manipulate the reformation of these crystals. If prepared correctly, you can create candies with no crystallization, such as toffee or lollipops, and you can control the crystallization in something such as a fudge or fondant so the finished product isn't gritty (which is how my fudge turned out).

Depending on the candy, the sugar solution can range from 223 to 360 degrees, which is why special, high-temperature candy thermometers exist.

That's also why candymaking is potentially dangerous.

"That 200 degrees will hurt pretty bad," Schopp said.

But candy thermometers haven't been around as long as candy, so how did our ancestors make the sweet treats?

It's called the cold water test, which according to "Field Guide to Candy" by Anita Chu, was developed in the 17th century.

I tried the cold water test to make Southern pecan pralines with my sister a few weeks ago. During the cooking process, we periodically dribbled drops of the sugar syrup into a bowl of ice water to see what happened.

We were waiting for the syrup to form a soft ball in the ice water that would be pliable once removed, and it turned out to be fairly easy to gauge. The pralines were a success.

But testing for the soft ball versus the firm ball, the rigid ball, the pliable threads and the brittle threads can get tedious and frustrating, especially when cooking alone or when a slight temperature variance could send your candy into a new realm of texture.

I recommend buying a candy thermometer, which may range in price from $5 to $35. Some are dual-purpose, also measuring the temperature of oil for deep frying. Eventually, the money you save on ruined ingredients will pay for the gadget.

Of course, there's no substitution for good, old-fashioned experience, which is why my grandmother didn't need any stinking thermometer to make perfectly smooth, delicious fudge.

"That's why grandmas do it so good, because they were taught, usually by their mothers ... and repetition has set that to stone," Schopp said. "And that's why so many grandmothers have a hard time writing it down."

Start simple

A reasonable person would not attempt a complicated dessert such as flan when they've never even baked a birthday cake. So it's OK to start with simpler candies before experimenting with the cooked sugar varieties.

Some fun, easy candies include peanut butter balls, peppermint patties, potato pinwheels and haystacks.

Even crisped rice treats and kettle corn are considered candy.

From there, move on to preacher cookies, also known by the very appetizing name "cow patties." These involve melting sugar, butter, milk and cocoa powder together before stirring in peanut butter, vanilla and rolled oats.

I should mention that some chocolate candy recipes such as truffles, dipped chocolates and chocolate bars require tempering, or slowly heating and cooling melted chocolate while stirring, to achieve the right look and mouth feel.

This is not a beginner's task, so until you're ready to learn tempering, stick with a good quality coating chocolate in brands such as Ghirardelli, Cacao Barry or Wilton.

In the case of a massive candy failure like mine, remember these words of wisdom from my father: "That's what the trash can is for."

If it can't be salvaged, don't be too hard on yourself. Even Grandma wasn't perfect.

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