No. 3319

Nougat of Apricots

Nougat d'Abricots

Make a band of brioche paste (No. 130) an eighth of an inch thick and three inches wide; raise up the edges to form a border, fill this entirely with consistent apricot marmalade (No. 3675) and bake in a moderate oven; after it is done cover the top with a layer of shredded almonds mixed with white of egg and sugar and return it to the oven to color the almonds; as soon as finished take it out and cut the cake across in inch pieces, laying them aside on a wire grate to cool.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes you have brioche dough and thick apricot marmalade already made from elsewhere in the book; with those two components in hand this is a fifteen-minute assembly. It is essentially a long jam tart baked as a strip and cut into bars.

Moderate ovenRead this as roughly 350-375F. The band is thin and bakes quickly; something in the range of 20 to 25 minutes is likely, but go by appearance: the brioche border set and browned at the edges.
The brioche pasteNo. 130 is Ranhofer's brioche paste, an enriched egg-and-butter dough; any enriched brioche dough will do. Ranhofer specifies an eighth of an inch; if the border tears when you pinch it up, roll a little thicker. Chill it firm before shaping or the raised edge slumps.
"Consistent" marmaladeConsistent here means stiff, not runny — apricot cooked down until a spoon drawn through it leaves a channel. A loose jam will boil over the border and glue the bars to the pan. Commercial apricot preserve reduced in a saucepan for a few minutes works.
The almond toppingShredded almonds means almonds cut lengthwise into slivers, not modern flaked almonds, though flaked will substitute. Bind them with lightly beaten egg white and sugar to a loose paste — roughly one egg white and 2 tablespoons sugar to a cup of almonds — and spread thinly.
Second bakeThe topping goes on after the tart is baked and needs only 5 to 8 minutes to set and take color. Watch it; almond and egg white catch fast, and the marmalade beneath is already fully cooked.
CuttingCut while still warm with a long thin knife, wiping it between cuts. Cold, the almond crust shatters and the jam drags. The wire grate matters: bars left on the pan steam and go soft underneath.
YieldA band about 14 inches long gives a dozen or so one-inch bars — a single plate of petits fours. Scale up by making two or three bands side by side on one sheet.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete professional reference, which is why this entry reads as three cross-references and a sentence: he expected the reader to have the brioche and the marmalade already standing in the kitchen. The entremets section collects the small sweets sent out near the end of a long service, and this sort of jam-filled strip baked and sliced into bars is a standard of French pastry, still made and cut the same way. The name nougat is used loosely here: not the boiled honey-and-nut confection but the almond-and-egg-white crust on top. Apricot was a common choice for this kind of work because good apricot marmalade cooks to a stiff, glossy paste that holds its shape under heat; apricot also served as a glaze under fondant icings.