Soft-set nougat?

[Nn, M.D.]

Hey eGullet community, I've got a question for you all.  I'm considering making a...very unique tart, and I'm hoping to use nougat as the base on which to put some decorative toppings.  From the recipes I've seen, the sugar and honey are typically cooked to hard crack (300˚F) before being added to the egg whites, which yields a chewy but still relatively firm texture.  For a tart, I feel something a little softer and easier to cut through might be a better fit.  I'm thinking something in the hard-ball stage (250-265˚) might be the way to go, but I worry that if my sugar is too cool then the meringue won't firm up enough.  Does anyone have experience with a softer-set nougat?

[teonzo]

I would say the best thing is going with the classic recipe without altering it to make it softer. Soft nougat holds its shape and is relatively easy to cut. If you aim for something softer then you move towards marshmallow territory, so you risk ending up with something that gets compressed during cutting and sticks to the knife, creating a nightmare. The thing I would change is the dimension of the inclusions, I would use ground nuts instead of whole, to be able to roll it thinner.

Whatever you choose I hope you will post a detailed resume, as you did in the past.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Metztli]

I've included a link to a video where a food engineer explains how the various textures and characteristic of nougat are achieved. Cocoa butter is sometimes added to torrone recipes for a more tender texture. Greweling's book has a soft chocolate nougat (think Milk Way style) recipe that includes fat (chocolate and additional cocoa butter) and dry ingredients (milk powder, cocoa powder, and confectioners sugar) and the sugar syrup is cooked to 245°. It produces a soft, short textured (crystallized) nougat.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdWmulnsVQw