TURKISH DELIGHT....consistent success at last.

[Coote]

'Tis the season for confectionery.

Turkish delight has long been a favourite of mine, particularly the rose-flavoured stuff. However its manufacture seemed a bit mysterious, and decent rosewater is not a common item on supermarket shelves in this part of the South Pacific.

After studying various recipes and experimenting, I've come up with a method that has given good results.

I prefer thickening the mix with cornflour rather than gelatine. I like the texture a whole lot better, even if the process is more complex.

I've come across at least one recipe on the internet that seems to contain at least one error. Gotta be careful about what we accept as a good idea.

Along with making this Turkish delight, I've recently been making a bit of fudge too. I've really started to think about what is happening in the pan, and sugar boiling theory in general.

I've posted this method on the Alaskan Frontier Freedom forum, it includes the actual Turkish delight recipe plus my interpretation of what the 'soft ball' stage of sugar boiling actually is. If anybody is interested, here is the link:

http://www.frontierfreedom.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=776

Season's greetings.....Coote.

[saucisson]

My Dad loves that stuff, and my mission for this year is a Christmas hamper of my own homemade produce...

Thanks

[aris]

I wouldn't mind seeing your recipe for fudge.

[Coote]

Below is the recipe I use for making Russian fudge. I have a much simpler recipe that I use for making chocolate fudge...but I generally only make this when I'm staying in a fairly crude hut at a place I stay at often...and the recipe is written on the wall! (If I find a copy of this recipe, or something similar, I'll post it later).

Russian fudge tastes better to me - and it makes a nice gift, but it is a bit more time-consuming and expensive to make. Constant stirring is required with this, whereas with a plain fudge you can leave it alone when it is boiling.

Russian Fudge (dunno why it is 'Russian').

Ingredients:
- Three and a half cups of white sugar
- Half a cup of whole milk
- 125 grams of butter
- Two heaped tablespoons of golden syrup. (Maybe this is known as something else in your part of the world. Its a sugar related thing that probably is not essential to the recipe anyway. If you don't use it, I suggest that you add a tad more milk to the initial mix to make it more fluid and less likely to overheat).
- Quarter of a teaspoon of salt
- Just over half a cup of sweetened condensed milk (i.e: half of the standard 395 gram can sold here. I recommend that you do not use the cheap type that contains vegetable oil. Yuk. I use the Nestle 'Highlander' brand made from fresh whole milk. If you can't get this, then you could experiment using a good brand of evaporated whole milk.)
- One teaspoon of vanilla essence (or more or less to suit you)

Method:
Have everything ready before you start, and be aware that any fudge mix is sticky and very hot...so keep your body and your children safe. One of the first things to do is to prepare a dish to pour the mix into to set. I generally rub butter over the surface of the dish to stop the fudge sticking to it, but you may prefer to use something else. The vanilla is added right at the end of the process.

Mix everything, except the vanilla, in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and place over a low to moderate heat until the sugar has completely melted into the mix. Stir constantly as this mix will easily burn on the bottom. When it starts to boil steadily keep the heat at just the right level to maintain a gentle boil. Note the time and keep stirring. Keep boiling and stirring until the mix reaches the soft to firm ball stage (around 118 degrees C or thereabouts). This might take from 15 to 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the mix stand and cool a little for maybe one to four minutes. Add the vanilla, then beat the mix with a wooden spoon until it thickens and looks, well, fudge-like with no glossy surface. Pour it into a dish that has had the surface rubbed with butter or some non-stick compound. I would use a dish that enabled you to keep the fudge about 20 millimetres thick.

If you like fudge, and you've never had the stuff I've described here, then I imagine you will be fairly impressed when you try it

[Coote]

Double batches (i.e. doubling the recipe mix) can be tricky - and disappointing. This seems to be especially true in my experience when I've tried to make big batches of fruit jelly. However I have doubled the Russian fudge recipe and the results were OK. I did use a particularly big saucepan with a big diameter. I figured this would give me a greater surface area for the excess water to evaporate as quickly as possible.

It seems sensible to double the mix as this utilizes a whole can of condensed milk (although using the rest is not a problem at my place !). Making a double batch also gives you a theoretical time saving. However if it doesn't work out, you've wasted your time and some expensive ingredients. So it is probably best to start with a single batch unless you are really confident.

Regards.... Coote

[Lee]

I heard another Turkish Delight recipe when on holiday in Cyprus once (of course, it was 'Greek' delight, but we can forget the politics here!).
I'd stopped for lunch up the mountains (away from the foul coast and in the nice part of the island) at a cafe (which was essentially a 120 year old womans house with a table outside), and had a fantstic lunch, and she came out and gave me some of her homemade 'greek' delight, best I've ever tasted, really delicious stuff. I asked her how she made it, and she replied in broken english, " I mix some wine and suger, and then leave it in the garden for a year"
Nice and simple I suppose!