Anyway, the fudge. As I suspected, the 50ml of Kirsch was a little too much, and it was barely set; outrageously soft really. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make it rather difficult to handle. As far as alcohol content goes, I think it's nicely balanced - it's obviously alcoholic, but not overpoweringly so. But the big problem is that I am but a novice in fudge-making - it's gone grainy. It turns out that making fudge is rather a subtle art; the texture of fudge comes from very carefully controlled sugar crystal size. Too big, and the fudge becomes grainy and gritty. Too small and it's not really fudge. I just found quite a good guide here, so I might give it another go at some point in the future. For now, I think it's a failure, but not a bad failure - the fudge is still edible and is (just about) recognisable as fudge. But the recipe definitely shows promise (it's got a good taste, just not quite the right texture), so hopefully at some point in the future, I'll get it right!
Really fascinating stuff - your batch does sound like it could taste pretty amazing, maybe not fudge, but great in its own right.
ReplyDeleteHad a look at the science page and am dubious about the comment that you shouldn't beat it too long, as I think that should keep the grain size down. Too hard may cause premature crystallisation so I agree with that one.
This is a recipe I like and think that this is one which science will come to the rescue to make the fudge perfect! Sweet!
Yeah, I had my doubts about some of the things in that page too. But I've read similar warnings elsewhere, so while I think the reasons are quite possibly wrong, I suspect that they may be sensible warnings nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to see what Lonnie thought of it...