Whisky Fudge!!!

27 january 2009

I like whisky in only the smallest of doses…after all I sit before you, elitist wine drinker - with a delicate palate that must not be sullied with coarse booze.
However,
When a co-worker of mine brought back mysterious “Whisky Fudge” from Scotland, curiosity reared its head. And, from Fall into Holiday 2008, I dreamt of Whisky – waked dripping sweat, haunted by barley, by peat, by heather… I stared at the illustrious whisky / whiskey wall where I work hypnotized by bottles of amber, orange, brown liquid. By a plethora of complex flavor profiles: of smoke, honey flowers, malt, caramel of all shades, vanilla, dried fruits, figs, maple syrup, man sweat, ham. How would each combine with chocolate? I wondered. And…since Holiday 2008, proved too busy to push my usual “over the top” Christmas cookies onto an unsuspecting new group of comrades, I opted, instead for post-holiday fudge.

Process:
1. List o’ booze:

Not just Whiskies –
Lagavulin 16 yr (substitute Smokehead, Islay or Caol Ila 12 yr) – Dark & bittersweet chocolate
The Glenlivet French Oak (substitute Oak Cross, Compass Box or Balvenie DoubleWood 12 yr) – Semisweet - walnuts
Tariquet or Maison surenne (don’t be tempted to use Hennessey or Courvoisier)- White chocolate – dried apicots
Woodford Reserve (substitute Jefferson’s Reserve) – milk chocolate – pecans – light brown sugar

2. List o’ stuff:

32 - 36 oz of each chocolate
4 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk
1 quart cream
8 foil trays mix quarter and half sheet pans
Cellophane for wrapping

Fudge is a confection – a candy, usually requiring thermometers and heating sugar to soft ball stage (240 degrees F) I envisioned my fudge as more a hard ganache. Ganache is simpler than complicated candy recipes. As well, I had no success finding an appropriate recipe for fudge with booze. You will find at the bottom, a couple links with helpful pointers. I decided, after consulting my professional pastry book (Bo knows pastry: The Professional Pastry Chef – Bo Friberg, 4th ed: an excellent source for large batch baking, pastry basics, conversion tables, useful facts, and has really pretty pictures!) I decided that roughly a 2 – 1 chocolate to liquid ratio would work best. And I was right!

Ingredients – Approximate: (I am not a Martha, I am not the Cook’s Illustrated. On occasion, I will measure to the last 100th of a gram accuracy. Some recipes, on the other hand require feeling, knowledge of your oven’s idiosyncrasies; consider me your old world grandmother, who refuses to let her daughter-in-law write anything down.)

32 - 36 oz chocolate (chips are OK) I used Ghiradelli, I cannot urge you enough to put down the bag of Nestle, nothing’s wrong with that of course; I find Nestle chocolate to be just too sweet and worry over the texture..
12 oz sweet condensed milk / real cream combo (more cream will mean it is less sweet)
4 oz whisky or whiskey, depending what you use
4 oz butter, (optional, for extra richness,) cold and cut into pieces

1. gather all you ingredients
2. chop chocolate, fruit and nuts, if necessary and toast your nuts
3. spray your pans, or brush with vegetable oil

Heat your milk, you may scald it on the stove or use the microwave. Place chocolate in a large stainless steel bowl.
Pour hot milk / cream directly over the chocolate, stir with a silicone spatula to combine. Add the booze, and stir. When fully combined, add the fruit, nuts, flavorings.
Pour into prepared pans – should be roughly 1 half pan ( - ) and 1 quarter ( - ). Wrap and chill at least overnight. Allow to come to room temperature before attempting to cut hardened masses.

Notes:
White chocolate – I used Maison Surenne Petite Champagne Cognac, (quite delicate and floral, with light apricot peels but also very good for sipping) I also used a portion of Tariquet, Bas Armagnac, less expensive, and light caramel – mostly because I didn’t want to use up too much Maison Surenne. Be extra careful not to overheat the white chocolate, it separates quite easily. This fudge ended up to be the softest, so I would suggest using even less liquid. (though in the long run, it ended up to be the most soft, melty, fudgiest) I garnished with vanilla salt.

Milk Chocolate – Woodford Reserve Bourbon …I decided to try lowfat condensed milk and added 1 ½ oz brown sugar, to accentuate the rich caramelly, toasty notes of the bourbon and the pecans.
It came out tighter than the white chocolate. I garnished with demarrra sugar.

Semi-sweet Chocolate – Here I selected the Glenlivet French Oak, because of its lack of smoke – and when tasting it solo I discovered some interesting cocoa notes. I wanted chocolaty richness to come through with little interference. I believed the glenlivet, might also add a dried fruit quality, as well. I used more heavy cream; I did not want it too sweet. The chocolate mixture almost broke! It came back together when I added the alcohol, it came back together. Hmmm… I threw in the butter and stirred until it melted. I garnished with cinnamon.

Bittersweet chocolate – The Lagavulin, of course – a smokey, peaty scotch and relatively inexpensive. Here, I made a variation; I scalded the cream then added a tablespoon of Darjeeling, then covered the pot to let it steep. (If I had a Lapsang Souchong, that would have been extremely effective.) I believed the dark chocolate would be least likely to break…boy was I wrong! It broke into a huge gloppy mess. The solids separated from the cocoa liquor – horrible! But it was 1 am and I was not throwing anything out. So I added the booze and stirred. It started to come back, though it seemed a little grainy, so I added more and exceeded the 4 oz mark, but it came back. (Hmmm again, I have not yet found an acceptable reason why.) I garnished with fleur de sel and called it a night.

Afterword: I shared with my co-workers, friends and family. Everyone had a different favorite, which means they were all good! Big pat on back and smiles all round. : )

From 7 o’clock going clockwise on the blurry plate:
White chocolate, Semisweet, Milk and the dark, smoky, peat.

Inspiration and alternative sources –
Authentic Whisky Fudge Recipe: