No. 3621

Brown Nougat for Center Pieces

Nougat Brun Pour Pieces Montees

Put into a copper pan one pound of powdered sugar and the juice of a quarter of a lemon; melt the sugar on a moderate fire, and when entirely dissolved stir in one pound of almonds, either chopped or slightly shredded; these are to be heated at the oven door, but great care must be paid that the almonds be not too hot, for should the sugar be slightly colored then the nougat would become too brown; should the almonds be too hot then have the sugar simply melted, and again, if the sugar be very hot, it is unnecessary to heat them only slightly. The best nougat for eating is made with melted sugar, but for elaborate panel pieces requiring much cutting it is better to use cooked sugar, the same as used for spinning work, without diluting with syrup. Almonds are used in the proportion of six to eight ounces for every pound of sugar. This nougat is certainly not so good for eating as the preceding, but it is much easier to work, for it cools with less rapidity and bends with more facility. It can be molded in arabesque molds made of plaster, or else pressed on to tin leaves to form moldings around different sized rings, or else around sticks to form columns. The nougat is cut out when in a flat three-sixteenths of an inch thick, or even thinner, with cardboard designs applied on, then cut away all around; these cardboards should be cut out beforehand into any shapes, such as rounds, ovals, squares, oblongs, triangles, etc.

← No. 3620 Imitation of Natural Green Almonds Confectionery No. 3622 Parisian, White and Pistachio Nougat →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is architectural sugar work rather than a sweet to eat out of hand: almond caramel rolled thin and cut into panels for a mounted centerpiece. The instructions assume a professional pastry bench, but the chemistry is straightforward and the whole thing hinges on temperature control.

The hinge: heat the almonds, not the caramelRanhofer's whole method is about keeping the sugar pale. Cold almonds chill melted sugar and stiffen it, so they are warmed at the oven door before being stirred in. If the almonds come in too hot the mixture keeps cooking and darkens past the point where the panels look clean.
Two different sugars"Melted sugar" means dry caramel: sugar heated alone in the pan until it liquefies. "Cooked sugar, the same as used for spinning work" means sugar boiled with water to roughly the hard-crack stage (about 300-310F), used undiluted. The boiled version cools more slowly and stays workable longer, which is why he prefers it for cut panels.
Copper panA copper sugar pan conducts evenly and is unlined, so there is no tin to melt at caramel temperatures. A heavy stainless or copper saucepan works; avoid thin aluminium and nonstick pans.
The lemon juiceThe acid inverts a fraction of the sucrose, discouraging the caramel from recrystallizing into a gritty mass while it is worked and rewarmed. A quarter lemon to a pound of sugar is about two teaspoons.
Proportions are not fixedThe opening line says a pound of almonds to a pound of sugar; later he gives six to eight ounces of almonds per pound of sugar for the panel version. The leaner ratio is the one to use for cutting work, since more sugar means a smoother, more cuttable sheet.
Rolling and cuttingThree-sixteenths of an inch is about 5 mm. Roll on a lightly oiled marble slab or silicone mat with an oiled rolling pin, lay the cardboard templates on while the sheet is still pliable, and cut with a heavy oiled knife. The nougat sets hard within a couple of minutes, so keep the bulk warm over a very low oven or a warm tray and work one piece at a time.
Molds and formsPlaster arabesque molds and tin leaves were shop equipment; oiled metal tubes, rings, dowels and silicone molds do the same job. Everything the hot nougat touches should be lightly oiled or it will weld itself in place.
HumidityCaramel is hygroscopic. Panels made on a damp day will go tacky and slump within hours. Work in a dry room and store finished pieces with silica gel or in a sealed box; they are display work with a short life.
Yield and burnsA pound of sugar with eight ounces of almonds gives roughly 24 oz of nougat, enough for a modest centerpiece with offcuts. Sugar at this temperature sticks to skin and keeps burning; keep a bowl of ice water at the bench.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer wrote The Epicurean (1894) out of some thirty years at Delmonico's in New York, and the confectionery section reflects a period when a formal dinner was expected to arrive with pi atces mont atces: sugar and nougat architecture built into columns, temples, baskets and arches that stood on the table through the meal and were largely not eaten. The craft is generally traced to Antonin Car ateme in early nineteenth-century France, who treated the pastry buffet as a branch of architecture and published plates of his constructions. Nougat brun — brown nougat — is the workhorse material of that trade, distinct from the white nougat that follows it in this book at No. 3622 as "Parisian, White and Pistachio Nougat"; it is simply caramel and almonds, closer to what Italy calls croccante and France nougatine or pralin. Ranhofer is candid that it is "certainly not so good for eating," which tells you exactly what it was for: it cuts cleanly, bends over a form without cracking, and holds a shape on the table all evening.