Pralin

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small nonreactive mixing bowl
• •Small wooden spoon
• •1½ to 2-quart light-coloured heavy saucepan
• •Sturdy tray with silicone baking mat, or a lightly oiled metal tray
• •Food processor or spice grinder
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Dry airtight storage jar

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the form

   Treat the glaze and powder as two independent preparations. For the glaze, set out a small bowl and wooden spoon. For the powder, place a silicone mat on a sturdy tray before the sugar meets the heat; if using bare metal instead, wipe it with the thinnest possible film of neutral oil. Caramel waits for nobody, and arranging the landing place first is simple good sense.

   Use a pale metal saucepan for the caramel. A dark pan hides the exact colour, and old gold is the point that decides the pralin.
2. 2

   Mix the white base

   For the glaze, put the pasteurized egg white and icing sugar in the bowl. Stir briskly with the wooden spoon for 2 to 3 minutes, pressing and beating rather than whisking in air, until the mixture becomes smooth, cohesive, and noticeably thicker. It should fall from the spoon in a heavy ribbon rather than run like unbeaten white.

3. 3

   Set the glaze

   Stir in ½ cup of the chopped almonds, then add the remainder a spoonful at a time according to the intended use. Stop while the pralin still spreads in a slow, textured ribbon for a fruit entremet; continue until it holds the spoon's ridges for a thicker cake covering. If it becomes too stiff, ça se rattrape: beat in a few drops of pasteurized egg white, no more than needed to restore movement. Spread it promptly, or press food-safe film directly against its surface and refrigerate so it cannot crust.

4. 4

   Melt to old gold

   For the powder, spread the superfine sugar evenly in a clean, dry saucepan and set it over medium-low heat. As the edges liquefy, gently draw the melted sugar over the dry patches with a dry wooden spoon, disturbing it as little as possible. It may form hard pale lumps. Lower the heat and keep turning them through the liquid caramel; ça se rattrape, and they will melt. The instant the caramel is uniformly old gold and smells rounded rather than sharp, take it off the heat. If it reaches dark mahogany or smells acrid, let it cool safely and begin again. Burnt caramel cannot be rescued.

5. 5

   Coat the almonds

   Immediately add the dry, room-temperature almonds and turn them through the caramel until every nut is coated. If the caramel hardens before the last almonds are covered, return the pan to low heat for a few seconds and keep folding until it loosens. Scrape the nougat onto the prepared tray and spread it into a shallow layer. Do not touch or taste it while hot. Leave it undisturbed for about 30 minutes, until completely cold, rigid, and crisp under the knuckles.

6. 6

   Grind and sieve

   Break the cold nougat into small pieces and pulse it in a food processor in short bursts, working in batches, until it resembles coarse sand. Pass it through a fine-mesh sieve, then return only the larger pieces to the next batch and repeat until everything passes. This preserves the source method's even powder without the long mortar work. If the mixture warms and begins clumping, stop. Ça se rattrape: spread it on the tray, chill it for 10 minutes, and resume with shorter pulses. Grind past that point and the almonds release their oil, giving praliné rather than powdered pralin.

7. 7

   Store it dry

   Transfer the powdered pralin to a completely dry, airtight jar as soon as it is cool from grinding. Keep it away from humidity, which turns caramel sticky, and spoon it out only with a dry utensil. Fold it into a soufflé, omelette soufflée, ice preparation, or custard in the amount required by that preparation. The glaze is best used the day it is mixed; the powder waits patiently for the next dessert.

Chef Tips

• •The two sugars are not interchangeable. Icing sugar belongs in the egg-white glaze; superfine granulated sugar belongs in the caramel. Modern icing sugar contains starch and will not make the clean, clear nougat this formula requires.
• •Use dry almonds at room temperature for the powder. Cold or damp nuts seize the caramel abruptly, while added toasting would change the clean almond flavour prescribed here.
• •A processor replaces the mortar, but not the sieve. The sieve gives an even powder that disappears properly into a custard or soufflé instead of leaving hard pieces.
• •Pralin and praliné are relatives, not synonyms. Stop at a dry powder for pralin. Continue grinding until the almond oil emerges and you have praliné, useful in its own right but no longer the preparation requested here.
• •Old gold is warm amber, not brown. Watch the pan rather than the clock, because the final change happens quickly and bitterness arrives one shade after perfection.

Advance Preparation

• •The powdered pralin can be made up to one month ahead and kept in a tightly closed jar in a cool, dry cupboard. If humidity makes it clump without becoming sticky, pulse it briefly and sieve it again.
• •The cooled nougat slab can be wrapped airtight and held for several days before grinding. Keep it dry, since exposed caramel readily draws moisture from the air.
• •Make the egg-white glaze on the day it will be used. If necessary, press film directly onto the surface, refrigerate for no more than 24 hours, and stir it smooth before spreading.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 15g)