So, I reheated and reboiled the fudge with my handy-dandy brand-new candy thermometer (the kind that has a readout and a detachable, on-the-end-of-a-wire temperature probe). What a difference! I boiled it to 236 F, then (because I’m impatient) decided to do the traditional marble thing rather than sitting around for 45 minutes waiting for the stupid stuff to cool in a mixing bowl. The traditional way of doing fudge is to heat it up, then pour it out onto a sheet of marble and let it cool there, rapidly, for about ten minutes before scooping it back up into a bowl and beating it.
Now, I have a marble slab, but I really didn’t feel like re-scrubbing it just to do a batch of fudge, especially since it currently has chocolate all over it from yesterday’s tempering. (Instead of cleaning it off – which is incredibly laborious since the cocoa butter hardens and becomes impenetrable without a lot of elbow grease and a plentiful supply of hot water – I scraped off the chocolate and covered it with freezer paper. That way it’ll stay “clean” (i.e. uncontaminated by anything except chocolate) until the next time I need it, i.e. tomorrow.) So I poured it into a sheet pan on top of the marble. I figure metal conducts heat really well, so there shouldn’t be that much difference between pouring it onto a thin sheet of metal over the marble and pouring it directly onto the marble. Sure enough, it cooled rapidly. I had the temperature probe in it, and when it dropped to 115 F, I scooped it into the mixing bowl and beat it with the mixer.
The resulting fudge is very very smooth (smoother than my previous fudges) and tastes wonderful. (A bit more toasted, says Mike, possibly because I remelted a previously unsuccessful batch of fudge.) Definitely a different method than the one I had been using, but it seems to work well. I’m going to try it with my other fudges and see how it works.
My one concern is that the fudge may become harder (unpleasantly hard) as it cools. I’ll check it later in the day to see how it’s doing.
In silicone mold-land, you may recall that Our Heroine decided a week or two ago to try casting a carved jade dragon-pendant-thingamabob (to be quite honest, I’m not sure what exactly the thing was intended for). Well, it came out beautifully – so beautifully that I’m casting another mold so I can make more at a time. I think I’m in love with silicone mold-making compound – it’s such fun! Must find more objects to cast. 🙂
That’s about all for today – I have a job interview (yay!) at 10:30, lunch with a friend, and then an appointment with my personal trainer down that the gym, so I don’t expect to get much more done today. Maybe another batch or three of fudge, but that’s it. Tomorrow…well, that’s a whole ‘nother story. 🙂
