i need sugar cooking tips

[keakar]

I like to do pralines and such for holidays and get togethers but I have a hard time doing it without burning it because it takes so long to reach soft ball and I cant stand on my feet for long periods without pain.

is there a better way then just standing over a pot on the stove for an hour waiting for that 5 second interval between burning and reaching soft ball?

I just throw my evap milk and sugar in a pot so its about an inch to 1 1/4" deep and stir while set on medium heat with candy thermometer about 1/4" off the bottom and away from the side of the pot.

just wondering if there is a better way to ensure it doesn't burn

[lil bubba]

1/2 cup evap. milk,,,,1 cup dark brown sugar,,,,1 cup sugar,,,,tabl. butter...cup pecans if you like. tbl. vanilla or vanilla nut butter which taste creamier but is like 4.50 bottle.....Put milk n sugar in pot on high heat and start stirring...heat will need to be turn down but leave high enough to boil but not boil over. When starting to get stringy or snotty dripping off spoon and white crystals start forming on side pot as you scrape put in pecans and vanilla and butter. Soon as it heats back up I like to throw in a shot of whiskey. Spoon out on foil and if it sets in pot before you finish put back on heat with a spoon or two of milk. Whole process shouldn't take more than 10 minutes. You want it to boil soon as possible..

[swamp snorkler]

Originally Posted by keakar

I like to do pralines and such for holidays and get togethers but I have a hard time doing it without burning it because it takes so long to reach soft ball and I cant stand on my feet for long periods without pain.

is there a better way then just standing over a pot on the stove for an hour waiting for that 5 second interval between burning and reaching soft ball?

I just throw my evap milk and sugar in a pot so its about an inch to 1 1/4" deep and stir while set on medium heat with candy thermometer about 1/4" off the bottom and away from the side of the pot.

just wondering if there is a better way to ensure it doesn't burn

Its called a stool.
j/k, my wife has a recipe that uses marshmellows...... ill post it later.

[swamp snorkler]

[goldenrod]

Do you hang all of your wives recipes in the closet?

[keakar]

thanks guys, I guess im just trying to do it on too low heat but when I tried cooking it faster on high heat, I burn almost every other batch.

I get it boiling then turn to medium high so its slow boiling (not foaming) and I keep it going until it reaches temp on the thermometer but it gets near soft ball in 5-10 minutes but goes another full 10-15 minutes after that to reach soft ball. I was told by a relative that she believes its because you have to reduce the milk even further to boil the moisture out of the milk before the temp can go higher and gets to soft ball.

I burn like one out of every 3 or 4 times I try to cook sugar for fudge or pralines so I hate wasting stuff and sugar and evap milk aint cheap on my fixed income.

I was kinda hoping there was a burn proof no mistake way to do it but I guess there isn't one.

[redaddiction]

Soft ball? never heard that term before.

[keakar]

Originally Posted by redaddiction

Soft ball? never heard that term before.

if you look on a candy/deep frying glass thermometer at the store it shows all the stages and the temperatures they are at

soft ball was termed (im told) because when you drip the sugar into a glass of water it forms a soft ball to tell you its ready or if its mushy and doesn't form a ball, then you know it needs more cooking. the idea is what happens when the hot sugar hits the cold water tells you how you stuff will come out. if your sugar doesn't reach soft ball then its not going to harden and your pralines may sag like cookies or or fall apart into crumbly mush so it instantly tells you how the end product will be before you take it off the heat or commit all the ingredients to it. the old timers can tell this by just looking at it without a thermometer but rookies like me need a thermometer even though I am beginning to learn what it looks like when its ready.

soft ball is when the boiling sugar gets to between 234-240 degrees and is for fudge of pralines and such

hard ball is when the boiling sugar gets to between 250-266 degrees and is for things like hard candy and peanut brittle

they have stuff like thread stage, soft ball, firm ball, soft-crack, hard-crack, also but I cant say for sure what those are used for but I think taffy is the thread stage

[swamp snorkler]

Originally Posted by goldenrod

Do you hang all of your wives recipes in the closet?

You caught that?

My wife uses a clothes hanger to hold her recipes, she hangs it from the door pulls on the upper cabinets.

Originally Posted by keakar

thanks guys, I guess im just trying to do it on too low heat but when I tried cooking it faster on high heat, I burn almost every other batch.

I get it boiling then turn to medium high so its slow boiling (not foaming) and I keep it going until it reaches temp on the thermometer but it gets near soft ball in 5-10 minutes but goes another full 10-15 minutes after that to reach soft ball. I was told by a relative that she believes its because you have to reduce the milk even further to boil the moisture out of the milk before the temp can go higher and gets to soft ball.

I burn like one out of every 3 or 4 times I try to cook sugar for fudge or pralines so I hate wasting stuff and sugar and evap milk aint cheap on my fixed income.

I was kinda hoping there was a burn proof no mistake way to do it but I guess there isn't one.

Have you ever tried a double boiler? They pretty much fool proof.

[keakar]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

Have you ever tried a double boiler? They pretty much fool proof.

you mean those pot inside another pot things? no I haven't, would that work? I wasn't sure if a double boiler would get the inner pot hot enough to reach the right temperatures.

its worth a try if you think it gets hot enough, I will have to look for one

[swamp snorkler]

Try it, may work better for you. That's what my wife uses to make pralines and she can burn a salad.

[Cappy]

Old wise tail: Dont make pralines on a foggy morning.
I guess the science behind it would be too much humidity keeps them from setting too hard??
If you make them and tehy are soft roll em into balls and roll the balls in ground nuts or dip em in chocolate. I have turned soft pralines into holiday favorites by accident more than once.

[Cappy]

I notice the marshmallow recipe is written wrong and smiled to my self. That was a very common thing old Cajun ladies usta do to protect their secrets. The instructions say "Place butter sugar and margarine in pan" I am pretty sure it should be butter sugar and milk.

[keakar]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

Try it, may work better for you. That's what my wife uses to make pralines and she can burn a salad.

that sounds like me, seams I always get distracted at just the right moment to burn things lol


thanks guys, I think I will buy this contraption and try the double boiler thing http://www.ebay.com/itm/281463635437?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageNa me=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

if it doesn't work I can still use it as a pot holder lol