Home › The Waldorf Kitchen › Nougat
Nougat
This is described as a cake, confection or sweetmeat made of almonds or other nuts. When freshly prepared it is so elastic that it can be moulded into cups, baskets or any other shapes. The following recipes give a variety of favorite modes of preparing and using nougat: (1) Put eight ounces of fine powdered sugar into a copper egg-whipping bowl and mix in the whites of three eggs, whipping continually over a clear fire until the paste is of the consistency of thick batter. Add one-half pound of almonds blanched and cut into small pieces, two ounces of chopped candied orange peel, one tablespoonful of vanilla sugar and a few drops of prepared cochineal. Mix thoroughly and spread it out upon two pieces of wafer-paper to about one inch in thickness, cover with two more pieces of paper, using a flat plate or board with a small weight on top to keep them level. Put them in an oven of very moderate heat and bake for a few minutes. Take them out, and when nearly dry cut them up into narrow, oblong squares. They are then ready for use. (2) Put one-half pound of powdered sugar into a copper egg-bowl, add the whites of two eggs and one tablespoonful of orange-flower water. Set the pan over a slow fire and whisk well until the mixture is of the consistency of stiff batter. Mix in one-half pound of almonds, blanched and shred very fine, stir well and put the paste on sheets of wafer-paper spread over a baking-sheet in the form of small ovals. Put them in a very moderate oven and dry slowly. They will be ready for use when firm. Take care to keep them as white as possible. (3) Put a little orange-flower water into a saucepan with fourteen ounces of honey and boil to the ball degree. Meanwhile whisk the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth, add two pounds of blanched and finely-chopped sweet almonds and one-fourth pound of confectioner's sugar and beat them together with the honey into a smooth paste. Put a sheet of wafer-paper on a board, spread the paste over about one-half inch thick, cover with another sheet of paper and put another board on top with a weight on it. When quite cold cut into shapes, and it is ready for use. (4) Blanch five ounces of sweet almonds and cut them into fine threads. Roast the kernels of three ounces of Brazilian nuts and peel them, chop the nuts and one and one-half ounces of candied lemon peel, mix them together with the almonds and three-fourths of a pound of confectioner's sugar. Whip the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth, stir them into the other ingredients and work all to a paste. Spread the nougat on a sheet of wafer-paper, cover with another sheet of the same paper and press well between two sheets of iron or tin, and put the paste in the oven for thirty minutes. Leave the nougat till cold before cutting it up. (5) Blanch four pounds of almonds and put them in a cool oven where they will dry and keep slightly warm. Put two pounds of confectioner's sugar into a copper pan, add one pound of white honey, put the pan on the fire, skimming frequently, and as soon as it begins to boil add four tablespoonfuls of syrup and a few drops of citric acid. When the sugar is at the crack degree, remove the pan to the side of the fire, add a few drops of extract of roses or orange-flower water and a very little vegetable carmine, turn the whole out onto a well-oiled marble slab and with a flat spoon scrape it all into the center until it forms a mass that can be easily worked. Take it up in the hands and work it on a hook in the same way as for twisted sugar, but without allowing it to get cold, and working in the almonds and two handfuls of pistachio kernels. Have ready a low, square-shaped wooden case spread with large slips of wafer-paper, put the mixture in, smoothing it over on top so as to give it an even thickness of about two inches and cover over with more waferpaper. Put the lid on the case with a heavy weight on top so as to push the nougat close down, let it remain for about ten minutes, turn it out of the case, divide it into long squares, cutting it in pieces with the aid of a crescent-shaped cleaving-knife.
Five distinct confections under one heading: the first four are baked almond-meringue pastes (closer to Italian amaretti or French nougat de Mélun), while the fifth is true white nougat built on cooked honey and sugar. Read all the way through before choosing one, and note that only the fifth requires sugar work.
- Wafer paper is the hingeEvery version depends on edible wafer or rice paper (papier azyme), still sold for cake decorating and nougat-making. It is not parchment, and the recipes assume it stays on and is eaten with the sweet.
- Oven temperatures"very moderate" and "cool" here mean a slow oven; period usage is imprecise, but something in the region of 250-300F suits pastes that are being dried rather than browned. Recipe 4 gives thirty minutes and no heat at all, so the same low setting is a reasonable inference; recipe 2 says plainly to keep them white.
- Sugar degrees"Ball degree" in recipe 3 is the soft ball stage, 235-240F. "Crack degree" in recipe 5 is hard crack, 300-310F. Use a thermometer rather than the cold-water test; the difference between a chewy nougat and a brittle one is a few degrees.
- The copper egg bowl over the fireThis is a hand-whisked warm meringue done directly over low heat. A stainless bowl over barely simmering water gives the same result with far less risk of scrambling; whisk constantly and take it to thick, glossy batter consistency.
- Colourings"Prepared cochineal" is a red liquid made from cochineal insects, sold now as carmine or E120, and so not vegetarian. "Vegetable carmine" was a trade name whose actual composition varied and cannot be established from the recipe. Any red food colour works if that matters.
- Names that have shifted"Brazilian nuts" are Brazil nuts, and roasting then rubbing off the skins is worth doing for the bitterness. Vanilla sugar can be replaced with a teaspoon of vanilla extract plus a teaspoon of sugar. The "syrup" in recipe 5 is most likely a glucose syrup, added along with the citric acid to discourage crystallisation.
- Pulling on the hookRecipe 5 asks you to work the hot mass on a hook, as a professional confectioner would, after it has been gathered on the oiled marble slab. Domestically, fold the warm mass on the slab with an oiled scraper until it turns opaque and workable, then knead in the warmed almonds and pistachios fast, before it sets.
- Quantities and yieldRecipe 5 is a shop batch: four pounds of almonds and three pounds of sugar and honey together, filling a case to a depth of about two inches. Halving or quartering it is sensible. The first four vary widely in scale: recipe 1 uses half a pound of almonds, recipe 3 two pounds.
- Pressing and cuttingThe weight or press is called for in recipes 1, 3, 4 and 5 (recipe 4 between sheets of iron or tin); it compacts the paste so it cuts cleanly. Follow each recipe on timing: 1 cuts when nearly dry, while 3 and 4 both say to wait until quite cold. Use a heavy oiled blade.
Nougat reached this kitchen through two separate traditions that the five recipes quietly conflate. The honey-and-egg-white confection of recipe 5 is the Mediterranean one, made as torrone in Italy and as the celebrated nougat of Montélimar in the Drôme, in south-eastern France, where the local almond groves are generally credited with fixing the style in the eighteenth century; the name is usually traced through Occitan nogat to Latin nux, nut. The baked almond pastes on wafer paper belong instead to the French pâtissier's repertoire, where such sweetmeats were prized less for eating on their own than for their plasticity, being moulded into the cups, baskets and architectural pièces montées that crowned banquet tables. That is why the opening line dwells on the elasticity of freshly made nougat rather than its flavour.