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["1. Butter a 9x13 inch dish and a medium, heavy saucepan. If you have a cast iron sauce pan, use it.", "2. In the buttered saucepan, combine 4 cups sugar and the cream. I usually put this on the lowest setting on the stove and stir it occasionally.", "3. In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, pour the remaining 2 cups sugar. (Again, if you have cast iron and wooden spoons, use them. Do NOT use a plastic spoon - trust me on this one.)", "4. Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar begins to melt.", "Continue to cook and stir the sugar in the skillet until it is completely melted and light brown. Do not overcook this.", "5. Once the sugar in the skillet is melted, pour it very slowly, in a thin stream, into the lightly simmering cream mixture, stirring constantly. This step may take five minutes, and works best if someone strong pours the melted sugar very slowly. Please don't rush this step. Note that the melted sugar will harden a bit upon hitting the cream/sugar mixture. Don't worry about this. It's normal.", "6. Now that everything named sugar or cream is in the same pan, heat it without stirring (yeah!), to 242 to 248 degrees F (116 to 120 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a firm but pliable ball. In candy making circles, this is known as ""soft ball"". Naturally, it really helps to have a candy thermometer for this part.", "7. Remove the sauce pan from heat and stir in the baking soda (mixture will foam). Drop the butter into the foaming mixture and let rest without stirring 30 minutes. Now check out your forearms oh yeah!", "8. At this point I usually work on the pecans, picking out any low quality individuals and making sure there are no shell fragments left.", "9. Once the 30-minute timer goes off, add the vanilla to the cream mixture and prepare your forearms for a quick 10 to 15 minute stirring workout. Your goal is to stir the ""sheen"" off of this melting pot of buttery, creamy, sugary goodness.", "10. At this point, fold in the pecans and quickly turn and spread the candy into the previously prepared 9x13 inch dish. Let it cool until just warm and cut in 1 inch pieces.", "11. NOW check out your forearms! Impressive eh?"]
