*SUCCESS!*

Two days ago I did "round two" in an attempt at making chocolate fudge.
I discovered that the recpie I used, acquired at http://www.cooks.com/
, is wrong: it listed 1/4 cup of evaporated milk, when it should have
been 3/4 cup.

For round two I used a different web page's recipe, which was:

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup evaporated milk
dash salt
2 cups sugar
===
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

The extra milk made all the difference. :-) I also discovered that just
like size, temperature DOES matter. I did not have a thermometer so I
used a glass of water and I let the fudge mixture drop, via spoon, into
the water to test for "small ball" state.

The first four ingredients were put in a sauce pan over medium heat and
boiled for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. I then used a wood
spoon to dribble a bit of the mixture into the glass of water: at
first, the drops broke up into inverted mushrooms and plunged to the
bottom in pieces. A few minutes more cooking, and the drops started to
form round balls when dropped into the water. After another minute I
removed the pot from the fire and tossed in the remaining two
ingrediants--- without stirring them in.

I let the pot sit until it cooled to about the temperature of my
girlfriend inner thigh (she's a warm, pink, young lass, half my age,
the dear thing) or about 105 degrees. Then I took a wooden spoon to the
fudge mixture and I flogged and thumped it mightily for about ten
minutes. The mix was then tossed into a buttered pie pan and left to
set.

It turned out perfect; no flaws that I can tell anyhow. It is at least
as good as what one buys at fudge stores I've been to.

Alas, it was easy!