No. 3622

Parisian, White and Pistachio Nougat

Nougat Parisien, Blanc et aux Pistaches

Parisian.—This nougat is made of hulled almonds split lengthwise and dried in a hot closet. After dipping them in melted cooked sugar apply them in a large biscuit mold slightly oiled, the flat side of the almond lying against the inside of the mold. If a cylinder mold is used, eight inches high by six in diameter, dip the almonds in the melted sugar and then take them up one by one with a larding needle and range them on their flat side in a double reversed wreath.

White Nougat.—White nougat is made of almonds split in two through their thickness and warmed in a heater. Melt in an untinned copper pan one pound of powdered sugar with a tablespoonful of lemon juice; melt this sugar without coloring and when well dissolved mix in the halved almonds. Mold in a plain cylindrical mold, cut off even with the top, and when cold unmold on a baking sheet and decorate either with candied fruits or spun sugar.

Pistachio Nougat.—Have a pound of peeled and very dry pistachio nuts, leave them whole and warm in a heater. Melt a pound of powdered sugar on a slow fire with a tablespoonful of lemon juice; finish the same as the white. Roll both the white and pistachio nougat to a quarter of an inch thick and cut into inch and a quarter bands. This nougat is to be molded in plain and almost straight timbale molds, having just sufficient flare to allow the nougat to be unmolded; garnish the bottom of the mold with a round of pink nougat, (white nougat slightly colored with carmine); adjust the bands on the bias, alternating the white, and fasten them on the inside with bits of nougat dipped in sugar. These nougats are ornamented with fanciful designs of spun sugar. On top place a cupola of spun sugar and over an aigrette of web sugar, or any other tasteful decoration. Nougat is also made of hazel-nuts, common nuts, peanuts, Brazil nuts or butter-nuts; in fact with all kinds of almonds, and finished as explained for the others.

← No. 3621 Brown Nougat for Center Pieces Confectionery No. 3623 Almond Paste Candied →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is nougat sec — almonds bound in cooked sugar and pressed into molds as a structural element for a centerpiece — not the soft aerated nougat of Montélimar. Read it as a pastry-shop construction technique with a candy recipe embedded in it.

"Powdered sugar" is not confectioners' sugarIn Ranhofer's usage powdered sugar means finely milled granulated sugar, with no cornstarch in it. Use ordinary granulated or superfine; modern powdered sugar will not melt cleanly and the starch will cloud the work.
The lemon juice is the hingeA tablespoon of acid per pound of sugar inverts a portion of it and keeps the mass from crystallizing while it is being rolled and shaped. Skip it and the nougat grains and turns opaque before you have finished molding.
Melting without coloringFor the white and pistachio versions the sugar is dry-melted with the lemon juice and taken off the heat the moment it runs clear; the book gives no temperature. Any drift toward amber and it is brown nougat, which is No. 3621.
Untinned copperThe recipe calls for an untinned copper pan; sugar work can be pushed to temperatures approaching the melting point of a tin lining, and an unlined copper sugar pan is the traditional answer. A heavy stainless saucepan works.
Warm the nuts, and mean itThe "heater" is a warming closet; any low, dry heat does the job, though the book gives no temperature. Cold or damp almonds chill the sugar on contact, and the mass seizes into a lump you cannot roll or cut.
Working speed and rollingNougat sec must be rolled on an oiled marble slab while hot enough to be pliable, and it stiffens in a minute or two. Reheat briefly in a low oven to soften it between operations rather than fighting it cold.
ToolsThe larding needle for setting almonds one at a time is easily replaced by fine tongs or a skewer. Oil the molds with a neutral oil, sparingly — pooled oil leaves a slick, dull surface.
Carmine and colored nougatThe pink round is white nougat tinted with cochineal-derived carmine. Any modern food color will do; add it to the sugar, not to the finished mass, which is too stiff to blend evenly.
HumidityCooked sugar draws water from the air and goes sticky and dull within hours in a damp kitchen. Assemble the piece the day it is served and keep it away from steam; a sealed box with desiccant buys a little time.
YieldThe pistachio version pairs a pound of sugar with a pound of nuts, giving roughly two pounds of nougat; the white version does not state a weight of almonds. The cylinder mold the recipe names is eight inches high by six in diameter, and the bands are cut for timbale-sized cases.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete professional reference, and the confectionery chapters belong to the tradition of the pièce montée — the architectural sugar centerpiece codified in France by Carême earlier in the century. Nougat in this hard, almond-and-caramel sense is the sculptor's material of that tradition: cheap, strong, and workable while warm, so that a pastry chef could raise cylinders, timbale cases and cupolas from it and finish them with spun and web sugar. It is quite distinct from the soft white nougat of Provence, generally traced to Montélimar, which is built on whipped egg white and honey; the shared name reflects a common root in almond confectionery rather than a common method. The closing note that nougat may equally be made of hazelnuts, peanuts, Brazil nuts or butternuts is a reminder that these were working formulas, scaled to whatever the storeroom held.