Hershey’s Fudge: the 3 Things Darren E. Burrows Taught Me about Fudge-Making

I have a confession to make.

Um . . .  

Umm . . .

Ummm—

I love Darren Burrows.

Wait. That came out entirely wrong.

I don’t love Darren Burrows in the Jane Austen sense—“Oh, Mr. Burrows! Till this moment, I never knew myself until now!”

[nineteenth-century critics who read this blog, you’re welcome]

I love Darren Burrows in that pop-culture icon, family recipes, and food traditions meaning of the word.  Where nights spent curled up on the couch with your mother and sister involve watching one too many episodes of 90s TV shows about crane dances and love:

A clip featuring John Corbett as Chris Stevens and Darren Burrows as Ed Chigliak on the 90s TV show, Northern Exposure.  I picked this clip (specifically) because I think it encompasses everything I’ve come to associate with the series, Darren’s character, and the do-good perspective Ed Chigliak brought out in so many of the episodes.

As many readers know, I grew up on the coasts of Rockland, Maine, alongside a somewhat impoverished fishing community and raised by a curly haired, red-headed hippy poet who had studied under the likes of Paul Purdhomme in New Orleans right before I was born (only months later to raise her children amongst lobstermen and black bears).

Mom was an amazing chef, professionally-trained, and wildly interesting, and it’s to her that I owe my own interest and education as a food writer living in south Louisiana (and let’s be honest, my book, The Fresh Table, could not exist without her).

As great of a chef as she was, she could not make fudge.

Pictured: my mom Rebecca, 1974, working the kitchen on a friend’s schooner.  The back caption reads, “Messmen duties in the Galley Mercantile out of Camden, Maine.”

Rebecca could de-bone a duck with one hand, make chowder without measuring, and boil a lobster to delicate perfection.  But, during the half dozen times she tried to whip chocolate and corn syrup into a frenzy, mom produced sugary brown bricks that sat on the kitchen counter for weeks, oxidizing because no one would eat them.  

In fact, I believe I saw an uncle hurt his teeth one Christmas when biting into her fudge, grumbling that it tasted like “sandpaper.”  

[Sorry mom, but someone needed to mention this.]

Perhaps this is why I’ve always had an aversion to candy-making.  I’d eat fudge at Christmas parties, but never dared to make it on my own.  When a close friend gifted me Desserted last winter, I cracked the spine with excitement until the moment I realized I’d need a candy thermometer and cocoa for every recipe.

Pictured: a container of Hershey’s Cocoa Powder (100% Cacao, naturally unsweetened) used in many at-home fudge recipes when chocolate chips are not on hand.

So what do lobsters, red-headed hippies, and Northern Exposure have to do with fudge?

Well, it’s more like who has to do with fudge.

I’ve always sort of associated Darren Burrows with cooking for a few reasons.  

Perhaps it’s because Northern Exposure aired right around dinnertime in Maine or that we’d sometimes get to eat dinner while watching the show (this was a particular treat).  

Whatever the case, soups and sandwiches come to mind when I see the opening credits, and I indulged in all six seasons last winter when writing The Fresh Table.

In between spell check and recipe testing, humble, sweet, morally-driven episodes relieved some of the stress on my mind, reminding me of those simple dinners with family in Maine and a time when I didn’t know the meaning of “deadlines.”

And then, there was Ed.

Sweet, tacit, perceptive, Ed Chigliak who knew the movie industry like a seasoned pro, but was still, somehow, experiencing everything for the first time.  His naïveté had this universal appeal to so many viewers. leading to a sort of cult following on Tumblr with whole pages dedicated to his “Ed-ness,” pajamas for “Team EDward,” and lead singer Justin Vernon of Bon Hiver officially naming his record label, “Chigliak Records.”*

[Note: “Bon Hiver” is also a specific Northern Exposure reference of which Vernon mentioned choosing second-best to “Chigliak” for his band name.]

To know the character Ed meant knowing something about a way of thinking and wanting to be that for Justin Vernon might be a mentality behind his music, and, for me, might relate to the spirit of cooking for family and making fudge.

This year, I tracked down the “official” Darren Burrows Facebook page replete with family photos, updates on projects, and yes, RECIPES.  Not just any recipes, but images of homemade bread, pasta, and this note about his mother’s fudge.  Turns out, Darren Burrows is a bit of a cook in his own right, married to Chef Melinda Burrows, and a natural food enthusiast.

Gold star for Chigliak.

After a few messages back and forth, Darren pointed me to this digital thermometer (although I’ve since fallen for the candy thermometer I successfully used in this recipe), and after one too many trial and errors, I finally learned how to make fudge. But, we’ll get to that in a second.

Clearly Delicious has been host to a series of wonderful food writers in the past few years, all of whom have tested their tried and true family recipes, but I’d like to put this one near the top.

This is some damn good fudge.

Today, I thank you, Darren Burrows, for introducing me to your mother’s fudge recipe. I realize it’s off the side of an old Hershey’s can, and, possibly, I could have found it somewhere else, but it was so exciting to stumble across now with your helpful notes and inscriptions.

Here are the 3 things I’ve learned from Darren about Fudge followed by my adaptation of his recipe:

1- Temperature, Temperature, Temperature

 – Every degree counts: whether it’s the softball stage (234-238F) or the point at which the fudge is ready to be mixed together with the butter and extract (112F), you’ll need a good quality thermometer so you can accurately test where the recipe is (see links above and below for both Darren’s and my suggestions).

2- Patience

 – If you make this batch as follows (as a “double-serving”), then you’ll need some patience.  Temperatures don’t just drop or jump between softball and 112-degrees, so be patient and time will reward you.

– Additionally, this patience also means avoiding stirring the mixture until instructed to do so.  Thus, when the candy is boiling on top of the stove or cooling, do not touch it.  Let time do the work.

– When you get to step 4, have the patience for the fudge to setup properly.  If you pull it out of the pan too quickly (say, when it’s only started to flash matte, but is still glossy), then you’ll be left with a gooey fudge-like frosting that’s great for topping cupcakes, but not eating on its own.

– As my intern Tara Hebert noted, your fudge should walk a fine line of soft and hard, allowing the snacking process to be “hands free.”  In sum, you should be able to work with relatively “clean” fingers while eating the fudge.  (Meredith added – “clean fingers = clean conscience.”)  Bravo girls.  Bravo.

3- Texture

-Melt-in-your-mouth chocolate doesn’t just happen, and you have to let the chocolate get to a point where this kind of texture is possible (both on the stovetop and on post-stovetop when beating the mixture).

– Fudge should be stiff to hold and cut, but only a little crisp to bite into, melting as it hits your tongue.

– Erica, “buttery caramel brown” is a good way to describe it because the final product will be far lighter than the original and have an almost “buttery” taste to it.

Darren E. Burrows’s Fudge Recipe

Yield: 8-10 (bite-size) servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and a half

My method and notes for Darren E. Burrows’s family fudge recipe follows.  Here, I’ve doubled Darren’s original version and suggested including almond extract as an optional half of the vanilla added.  Darren notes that his mother’s recipe came “from an old Hershey’s Cocoa can,” but my can only has recipes for frosting, hot chocolate, and “perfect chocolate cake.”

Ingredients:

*4 cups sugar

*8 tablespoons cocoa powder (Hershey works well)

*1/4 teaspoon salt

*3/4 cup milk (skim works fine)

*4 tablespoons light corn syrup (I used Karo)*

*4 tablespoons butter (I used salted)

*2 teaspoons vanilla extra (can sub. 1 vanilla, 1 almond)

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT NEEDED:

*candy thermometer or digital thermometer

*Not a fan of corn syrup? See Darren’s substitute recipe at the bottom of this post, or checkout David Lebovitz’s article on the when’s and where’s of cooking with corn syrup.

1.) Combine dry ingredients using a whisk—sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a nonstick, heavy bottom pan. *

*Chef’s Note: Darren doesn’t suggest a whisk here, but I find this tool handy for incorporating the dry ingredients together uniformly.  Plus, whisks are great sifters for dry ingredients when your patience is low.

2.) Add milk and corn syrup, stirring to combine.  Place pan over medium heat, insert candy thermometer (or digital thermometer—Darren uses this one), walk away, and let time do the work.  (NOTE: DO NOT STIR.  AT ALL.  JUST DON’T.).

At about 45 to 50 minutes (stove times and temperatures will vary), your mixture should bubble to the “soft ball stage” or what’s specifically measured at 234F – 238F range.*

*Chef’s Note: Darren’s recipe says to wait for 234F, but during my first time making the fudge, a 234F reading didn’t yield the firm, but soft fudge results of a seasoned chef.  Although I suspect my temperature reading wasn’t accurately 234F throughout or that I was also using a faulty digital thermometer, I like to give myself an extra couple of degrees between 234-238 to ensure the mixture is actually in the right “soft ball” range. 

Plus, what’s great about a candy thermometer is that it actually says “soft ball” in red markings, so you’ll have an idea if you’re close or not.

3.) Turn off heat and add butter and vanilla.  Again, DO NOT STIR.  Keeping candy thermometer in place, wait until the temperature lowers to 112F—this will take a while, but recheck every 10minutes until you get close.

4.) When mixture is 112F, it’s time to beat the fudge until it “sets up.”  Darren says to use a “wooden spoon until your arm feels like it’s going to fall off,” but I find my KitchenAid Mixer’s whisk attachment works well too.  Simply transfer the fudge to a metal KitchenAid bowl, attach whisk, and beat on medium.  NOTE: DO NOT SCRAPE THE SIDES when beating or transferring mixture.  Here’s why.

Or, here’s how Darren explains it:

“The glossy will start to flash matte but return to glossy if you stop stirring.  Continue to stir watching carefully for the point that the fudge does not return to gloss.  At this point the fudge begins to set up rather quickly and you must immediately pull out of pot and into a waiting buttered pan.”

5.) Transfer fudge to a baking dish lined with wax paper that’s been sprayed down with nonstick spray (an 8-inch Pyrex will do).  Score fudge into squares and refrigerate before serving (I prefer to do this step overnight).

Makes 10 servings fudge. 

Corn Syrup Substitute

*2 cups sugar

*3/4 cup water

*1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter

*dash of salt

1.) Combine sugar, water, cream of tarter, and salt in a heavy, nonstick pan.  Place over medium heat, stirring regularly until mixture begins to boil.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 3-minutes.  This step helps “get sugar crystals off the sides of the pan.”

2.) Uncover pan, insert candy thermometer, and cook until mixture reaches softball stage (234-238F).  Stir often.

3.) Remove from heat, cool, and store at room temperature in an air-tight container.  Corn syrup substitute will keep for up to two months and makes 2 cups.  For more information on sugar storage, see this great post at Alcademics on variations of syrup – to – water ratios and their shelf-life.  Hint: vodka helps.

–Helana Brigman

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