Dad's Deliciousness.

This is my Dad.

I love him quite a lot.

He's not one for travelling. In fact, a trip to Bangor is quite a big deal for him. He pretty much likes to stay home or travel twenty minutes south to his hunting camp in the Haynesville woods. This place here is city stuff. But, my Dad - he loves me, too - so he comes down to my neck of the woods once in awhile to play, as well.

This is him showing me all of his treasures in his shirt pocket. I believe he had a notebook, two pens, a pocket New Testament, and a flashlight. My boys love to sit on his lap and paw through his stash.

This is my Dad making me my all time favorite treat in the whole wide world - his homemade brown sugar fudge. Normally, I'm not a fan of fudge. In fact, any kind other than Dad's I can pretty much take or leave - there's no real temptation. But, my Dad's fudge, on the other hand, I pretty much eat it until it's --

(A). Gone. or -

(B). I'm sick. And I've got an iron gut, so that's saying a lot.
In fact, no lie - and I'm not overly proud of this - just today, I ate two pieces before breakfast, one afterwards, two before lunch, and two for dessert. No joke.

Tomorrow I shall run my buns off.
Today, I shall eat at least two more pieces before the day is over.

I'm sure I'm biased, but I really have eaten no other fudge that comes out like Dad's. It's not just the taste that's amazing - it's the consistency, as well. I'm not a fan of gooey, soft fudge. This kind of breaks off when you bite it, and it almost reminds me of those maple sugar candies that you can get that just sort of melt in your mouth when you eat them. Oh man. Party in your mouth.

(Notice Jesse in the background, double fisting the sugar from the sugar bowl. Classic).

Anyway, I wanted to watch Dad make it exactly the way that he always does, and I wanted to take meticulous notes so that maybe I can replicate this dish of deliciousness. He uses no recipe and no candy thermometer, and everything is just eyeballed - so I'm sure it will never come out the same, but I at least have it down on paper for future attempts.

It is not healthy, and it is not good for Kevy's tummy. So, I will continue to do my wifely duty in eating the remainder of the batch....

This recipe is for a single batch:

In a buttered pan, take 2 cups brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, and 2/3 cup evaporated milk and cook to "hard ball stage" on the stove, then cook 3-4 minutes beyond that. I really have no idea what that means, but he always takes a clear glass of cold water and lets a little drop of the fudge go in. If it goes into a round ball with a tail on the end, it's good, so he says. He cooks it until it gets full and frothy - a nice consistent boil.

Then, when you have a half a clue that you think it might be ready, take it off the stove and add to the pot: 1/2 stick real butter, 2 generous tablespoons real vanilla, and 1/2 of a 7 1/2 ounce jar of fluff. After this, in Dad's words: "Whip it until you're tired" which this time translated into about 5 minutes.

Put it on a buttered cookie sheet and let it sit until hardened. Once it starts to set, score it with a knife so that the peices will break off more easily.

Every few minutes sneak outside to "check and see if it's ready" and take behemoth sized bites when no one is looking. Bring the half eaten pan inside once it's truly hardened, and begrudgingly share what's left with the rest of the family.