[Sca-cooks] Buttermilk Fudge

[Phlip]

Well, my many experiments with making fudge have finally paid off. I've
finally figured out how to make it consistantly a good flavor and texture,
after indulging in tens of thousands of calories of mistakes. Hope you enjoy
this ;-) If you don't like buttermilk, you can substitute regular milk and
it still works well, but I counsel against the modern stupidity of subbing
in margarine for butter, or that 2% white water for milk- after all, this is
chocolate fudge- if you're eating it in the first place, you've just blown
your diet to blazes anyway, sao you might as well relax and enjoy the
indulgence ;-)

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

Before you start, make sure the ambient humidity is under 85%- otherwise, it
will not solidify properly, and you may wind up with anything from chocolate
syrup to dark brown, chocolate flavored rock.

Buttermilk Fudge

6 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups (Ghiradelli) unsweetened  cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup (one stick) butter, cut into pats
2 teaspoons (real) vanilla extract

Line a 9 inch baking pan with tin foil, and butter the foil.

Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in a large cookpot with a heavy bottom, stirring
well, until the cocoa is well mixed with the sugar, and all lumps are broken
up. Add buttermilk, and turn heat onto medium, stirring until the mix is
evened out, and you start to feel the heat.

STOP STIRRING, and let it heat through, until it boils. Let it heat until
234 or 235 degrees F, or soft ball stage (NOTE: When you're close, the whole
mix will darken, and the boiling will change in nature- slower, and
thicker.)

Turn off the heat, without moving the pot (jarring can screw up the
crystalization) and add the butter and the vanilla. Let cool until about 150
degrees F, and, using a clean (wooden) spoon, start stirring fairly
vigorously, avoiding dragging the crystals towards the top of the pan into
the mix.

When it starts to stiffen, about 120 degrees F, pour quickly into the
prepared baking pan, and smoothe out a bit, and let cool- NOT in the
refrigerator- too much humidity.

When it has formed a skin on top, score it in the pieces you want to break
it into. Let completely cool, then take it and the foil out of the pan, and
break, rather than cut, the fudge into squares along your score marks.

Saint Phlip,
CoD

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....