No. 3626

To Spin Sugar by Throwing

Pour Filer le Sucre a la Jetee

First have a spinner constructed as follows: On the entire surface of a round of sheet iron five inches in diameter and an eighth of an inch thick are to be riveted wire pegs an eighth of an inch in diameter and three and a half inches long, and at three-quarters of an inch apart from each other. A solid handle is fastened to the spinner. Cook in a copper pan two or three pounds of sugar to "large crack" (No. 171) or three hundred degrees Fahrenheit. As soon as done remove from the fire. Place several clean and oiled baking sheets on the floor. With the left hand take a small stick and hold it horizontally to the height of the chest or else lay it projecting over the edge of a table; with the right hand plunge the spinner into the sugar, take it out and drain off all the superfluous sugar; then, moving the instrument vigorously backward and forward over the small stick until all the sugar has run off in threads, redip the spinner into the sugar and begin the same movement again, continuing until all the sugar is spun. In case there be no spinner handy, a spoon can be used, dipping it into the cooked sugar, lifting it out and leaving all the surplus sugar drain off by moving it backward and forward the same as the spinner.

← No. 3625 Malaga Raisins Stuffed and Glazed Confectionery No. 3627 Sugar for Casting in Molds →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is spun sugar — the fine amber threads draped over croquembouche and set-piece desserts. The technique is unchanged; only the hardware and the thermometer have improved.

The hinge is humiditySpun sugar pulls moisture from the air and goes limp and sticky. Work on a dry day, never near a boiling stockpot or a dishwasher, and spin no more than an hour or two before serving.
"Large crack" and the numberRanhofer gives it himself: 300F. That is the low end of what is now called hard crack (300–310F). Use a digital or candy thermometer and pull the pan the moment it arrives; sugar climbs fast past this point and will start to color.
The spinnerNo need to have one riveted up. Cut the loops off an inexpensive balloon whisk so you are left with a fan of stiff wire ends, or use two forks held together. A spoon works as he says, but throws coarser threads.
The copper panUnlined copper was standard for sugar work because it conducts evenly. Any heavy stainless or copper pan does the job; avoid thin aluminum, which scorches. Brush the pan sides down with water while the syrup boils so no crystals seed the batch.
Keeping the syrup workableThe syrup thickens as it cools and stops threading. Set the pan in a shallow bath of just-boiled water, or return it to the lowest heat for a few seconds between dips. A tablespoon of glucose or corn syrup, or a pinch of cream of tartar, added at the start makes it far less prone to crystallizing.
Instead of oiled sheets on the floorThe floor sheets were presumably there to catch drips over a wide area, though Ranhofer does not say. Cover the counter and floor with parchment or a silicone mat; lightly oiled parchment releases best. Hot sugar sets on contact and lifts off cleanly once cold.
Yield and useTwo or three pounds of sugar is a professional quantity for veiling a large pièce montée. Half a pound is plenty to garnish a dozen desserts; gather the cooled threads into loose nests with oiled hands and store airtight with a desiccant until plating.
CleanupDo not scrape hardened sugar. Fill the pan and submerge the spinner in water and bring it to a boil; everything dissolves.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially his working reference for a restaurant that built towering sugar and pastry centerpieces to order. Sucre filé — spun sugar, sometimes called angel hair — belongs to that world of pièces montées descended from the early nineteenth-century French pastry tradition associated with Carême, where a dessert's job was partly architectural. It is worth noting that Ranhofer opens with instructions for building the tool rather than assuming one could be bought, suggesting that specialist equipment of this kind was often made up to a chef's specification rather than purchased ready-made. The instruction to lay oiled sheets on the floor suggests work done with room to swing an arm, with the threads expected to fly.