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Sugar Boiling
Considerable attention to this art should be directed by those who desire to note the changes that take place in sugar at different degrees of heat, the expressions, "Boil to the crack," "To the pearl," "To the thread," "To the blow," etc., must be well understood and the simple method of determining these various conditions should be committed to memory. Previous to explaining the "degrees" of sugar boiling it will be best to describe suitable vessels for holding the sugar and stoves for supplying the requisite heat. Sugar boilers or pans are made in a number of shapes from the old-fashioned Scotch saucepan, or "goblet," to the deep round pan, which finds the greatest favor among confectioners, whether for large or for small quantities, the pan being large or small accordingly. The stove used for receiving the pan should be fitted with a ring for the round, dome bottom of the pan to rest in, and the heat may be derived from either fuel or gas. Another necessary implement is a marble pouring-plate, which should be laid on a table and supplied with different-sized frames. All skilled sugar boilers advise the use of a thermometer graduated from 50 degrees Fahrenheit to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, but, nevertheless, very few skilled boilers use them; they are so well accustomed to jndge of the degree to which the sugar has arrived by very simple tests, which will be described further on. It is observed that while the sugar is undergoing the process of boiling it is very nearly impossible for a learner to determine the exact degree which the sugar has attained without the aid of the thermometer, and even the journeyman confectioner finds it very useful.
Place in the pan seven pounds of loaf sugar broken into small pieces (white crystallized sugar will answer the same purpose), and add one quart of water; set the pan over the fire and allow its contents to boil. As soon as the bubbles show on the surface, lift the pan from the fire and examine the contents to see whether the sugar all is dissolved; stir with a spatula and crush any lumps that may remain. Place it again over the fire, putting a cover over the pan, and in ten minutes remove the cover and put in the thermometer, being careful that the lower portion of it shall be thoroughly imbedded in the sugar.
When the thermometer indicates 215 degrees to 220 degrees the degree called "smooth" is reached and the sugar is well adapted for crystallizing and making gum goods and liqueurs. At 230 degrees to 235 degrees "thread" it is used for liqueurs. Two hundred and forty to 245 degrees "feather" or "blow" quickly follows, requiring very close attention to the pan in order to avoid having the sugar boil over; this condition is suitable for candying fruits and for making fondants and creams. Two hundred and fifty degrees to 255 degrees, "ball" or "pearl," serves for cocoanut and other candies, cocoanut ice and grain sugars generally. Three hundred and ten degrees to 315 degrees, "crack," is required for all kinds of drops, rocks, taffies, and clear goods. The hand test for these various "degrees" is not very satisfactory, although it is marvelous with what accuracy an experienced confectioner will judge of their arrival. He dips a clay-pipe-stem into the sugar when it is boiling and draws it between the finger and thumb; if the sugar feels oily it has reached the "smooth" degree (215 to 220 degrees). When the sugar forms small threads between the finger and thumb as they are opened out it has reached the "thread" degree (230 to 235 degrees), which may be either small or large. The "feather" degree (240 to 245 degrees), so quickly follows the thread that no test is necessary, although a toss of a little sugar in the air will show the feathered appearance. The "ball" degree (250 degrees to 255 degrees) is tested by dipping the sugar on a pipe stem and plunging into some cold water, and when you take it out the sugar should work up like putty. The "crack" (310 degrees to 315 degrees) is the most important degree of them all, as it is most generally wanted. When the pipe-stem is withdrawn from the sugar, as in testing for the "ball," the sugar should harden readily and snap off when bitten by the teeth. The next degree is called "caramel" and means that the sugar is on the point of burning.
It is well, before proceeding further, to make some reference to what confectioners term "cutting the grain" of sugar. Refined sugar, whether lump or crystal, when boiled to any degree above the "ball," or 250 degrees by the thermometer, is graining and would, if it were turned out into a pan, become a solid lump of hard, candied sugar, and to prevent this the grain must be cut by the addition of cream of tartar, which, in its action, will cause the sugar to become pliable while hot and transparent when it becomes cold; therefore it is necessary to use cream of tartar with all sugars intended for drops, rocks, taffies and clear goods. Some sugar workers prefer to use crystallized acetic, or citric acid, but cream of tartar is the best, safest and most to be relied upon, the quantity varying from one to two teaspoonfuls for a seven-pound boil of sugar.
Sugar may be grained by boiling it to the "ball" degree, then, without adding the cream of tartar or other acid, working it with the spatula against the side of the boiler until the sugar becomes opaque. This sometimes requires considerable perseverance in order to bring it to a satisfactory condition. With the knowledge as above outlined the confectioner should be prepared of commence manufacturing, and here his personal adeptness and ingenuity will have to serve him.
Rock is made by pouring the sugar into flat, rectangular, round or oval tins; drops, balls and lozenges can be made by passing the cooling sugar through a machine with cutting rollers or by pulling it into long rods over a hook and then cutting the pieces off with scissors in such a manner as to have the edges formed cross or lie horizontally as in cushions; and by means of the scissors numerous shapes can be cut out, such as diamonds, squares, wedges, triangles, etc.
This is a working confectioner's primer rather than a single recipe, but it is a usable one: seven pounds of sugar to a quart of water, boiled to whatever degree the finished sweet requires. The stage names here are late nineteenth-century trade language and do not all line up with the ones on a modern candy thermometer.
- The hinge: sugar climbs slowly then fastBetween 215F and 230F the syrup sits for a long while as water boils off; once past the ball degree it climbs quickly. Have the pouring surface oiled and ready before the pan goes on, and pull the pan from the heat the moment the target is reached, since residual heat in a heavy pan can carry the sugar several degrees further.
- Scale it downSeven pounds of sugar to one quart of water is a confectionery batch. The same ratio works out at 1 lb sugar to about 4 1/2 fl oz water (a generous 1/2 cup), and the recipe's one to two teaspoons of cream of tartar per seven-pound boil scales to roughly 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon per pound.
- The stage names are not modern onesOscar's "ball or pearl" at 250-255F falls at the top of the modern firm-ball range and into hard ball; his "feather or blow" at 240-245F sits around the soft-ball/firm-ball boundary; his "crack" at 310-315F is hard crack, usually given today as about 300-310F. Work from the numbers, not the names, and ignore any modern recipe's stage word if it conflicts.
- Loaf sugarLoaf or lump sugar was refined sugar cast in a cone and broken up. Ordinary granulated white sugar is the direct equivalent, as the text itself allows.
- The pipe-stem testA clay pipe stem was the confectioner's disposable probe. A teaspoon dipped in the syrup and dropped into a bowl of cold water does the same job; fish out the mass and judge it by feel. Never test hot sugar between finger and thumb straight from the pan, whatever the original says about the "smooth" degree.
- Cream of tartar and grainingThe acid inverts part of the sucrose so it will not recrystallise, which is why clear goods need it; the text calls for it with drops, rocks, taffies and clear goods, though many fondant recipes use a little as well. Add it once the sugar is fully dissolved, not before, and resist stirring after that point. Brushing the pan sides down with a wet pastry brush prevents the stray crystals that seed a whole batch into grain.
- EquipmentAn unlined copper or heavy stainless pan and an instant-read or clip-on candy thermometer reading to 400F replace the domed sugar boiler and the 50-350F instrument. A marble slab is still the best pouring surface; a heavy sheet pan, lightly oiled, will serve.
- Altitude and humiditySubtract about 1F from every target for each 500 feet above sea level. Pulled and clear sugar work also suffers in damp weather, and sugar boilers have long preferred dry days for it.
The vocabulary here is a translation of French confectionery practice, where the degrees run lissé, filé, soufflé, boulé and cassé — smooth, thread, blow, ball, crack — a scale set out in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French manuals and carried into English-language trade books more or less intact. That a hotel cook book printed at the end of the 1890s devotes a page to sugar boiling says something about how a grand kitchen was organised: the confectionery work was done in house, and the man doing it was expected to know the degrees by hand and eye. The text itself notes that very few skilled boilers used thermometers, while conceding they are near-essential for a learner and useful even to the journeyman confectioner.