1285. NOUGATS.
Ingredients required:—Two pounds of Jordan almonds, and one pound of sifted sugar.
Scald the almonds, remove the skins, and after they have been washed and dried in a napkin, split each almond into halves; then place them on a baking-sheet, and put them in a slow oven to acquire a very light fawn colour. While the almonds are undergoing this process in the oven, place the sugar in a convenient-sized sugar-boiler, and stir it with a wooden spoon over a slow fire to melt it: as soon as it is entirely dissolved, and begins to form small purling bubbles on the surface, the almonds (which by this time should be ready and quite hot) must be instantly thrown in, and very gently mixed with the sugar, care being taken not to break or bruise them. The vessel containing the nougat should be kept at the entrance of the oven or near the stove-fire, so as to prevent its becoming cold before it is used up. The mould intended to be used must then be first carefully oiled inside with a paste-brush, and set to drain on a plate that the superfluous oil may run off. Some of the nougat should now be dropped on a lightly-oiled baking-sheet and spread out with a lemon to the thickness of about the eighth of an inch; and as these pieces are thus spread or pressed out, they must be immediately placed in the mould, and pressed into its form with the assistance of the fingers and a lemon, and made to adhere effectually to each other; great velocity must be used in this part of the operation, as in the event of the nougat being allowed to become brittle by cooling, it would be found impossible to build it up, unless by melting it, which is seldom found to succeed. When the nougat has become set by cooling, turn it out of the mould, and serve it on a napkin or upon an ornamental stand.
The foregoing proportions, as well as the directions for splitting the almonds, refer only to large nougats; when it is intended to make a smaller one, the almonds should be shred. In all cases, the proportion of almonds and sugar should be as two of the former to one of the latter. For the purpose of varying their appearance, as soon as the nougat is turned out of the mould, some shred pistachio-kernels and rough granite-sugar,* should be strewed over its surface.