2352—Pralin

(1) If it be for the purpose of covering certain cakes, or for forming a glaze on a fruit entremet, prepare it thus:—Put the whites of two eggs and three tablespoonfuls of icing sugar in a small basin. Mix and stir briskly with a small, wooden spoon, until the paste becomes somewhat thick. Then, subject to the purpose for which it is intended, add a more or less large quantity of chopped almonds, according as to whether the pralin be required thick or slightly liquid for spreading. Cover it with a piece of white paper, moistened with white of egg, that it may remain moist if kept for some time.

(2) If it is to be added to a soufflé preparation, to a souffléd omelet, to a preparation of ice, or to a custard, it is a nougat powder which is prepared as follows:—

Gently melt one lb. of powdered sugar in a small saucepan, taking care not to let it acquire a deeper shade than old gold. Mix twenty oz. of dried almonds with it; turn the whole out on to the corner of a slightly-oiled marble slab (or on an overturned saucepan-lid), and leave to cool. When the nougat is quite cold, pound it and rub it through a sieve.

Pound and rub what remains in the sieve until the whole goes through.

Put the powder in a well-closed box, and place the latter in a dry place.