Ponouchi

This is penuche, a brown-sugar fudge, written in the shorthand of a period candy section where the method was assumed to be common knowledge. The ingredients are complete; the technique is not.

• The hinge: the soft-ball stageSugar and milk are boiled together to the soft-ball stage, around 234-240F, and that temperature largely determines whether the candy sets. Undercooked it stays syrupy; overcooked it sets hard and dry. A candy thermometer is the easiest modern stand-in for the cold-water test.
• Butter the size of a walnutAbout 1 tablespoon. Many fudge methods drop the butter on top once the syrup is off the heat and leave it unstirred until beating begins; the recipe itself says nothing about when it goes in.
• Cool before beatingLet the cooked syrup stand undisturbed until it drops to roughly 110F, then beat until it thickens and loses its gloss. Beating a hot syrup gives a grainy, sandy candy.
• When to add the nutsStir the chopped walnuts or hickory nuts in at the very end of beating, just before pouring, or the candy will begin to set in the pan while you work.
• Hickory nutsRarely sold now outside of the upper Midwest and parts of the South. Pecans are the closest substitute in flavor and fat content; walnuts, the recipe's own first option, are the simplest answer.
• Pan and yieldFour cups of sugar with a cup of milk makes a large batch, on the order of two pounds of candy with the nuts; it wants a 9-by-13 pan or two 8-inch squares. Butter the pan and score into squares while still warm, since cold penuche tends to crumble.
• Watch for boiloverMilk and sugar climb the pan fast. Use a saucepan at least three times the volume of the mixture and stir only until the sugar dissolves, then leave it alone.