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Torrone, anyone made?


simdelish

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Chef and I were reminiscing about getting really good Torrone from Italian shops when we were little. I decided to look up some recipes on the internet, and tried making a batch yesterday. (All the recipes were almost identical, only optional ingredient additions, like candied lemon/orange etc, made them different.)

basically 300 grams honey, 300 g sugar with 100 g water to caramel stage, 500-700 g nuts (mostly almonds with or without hazelnuts), and 3 or 4 egg whites, along with flavorings like vanilla and lemon zest.

i simmered the honey for more than 2 hours, like it said, to thicken it, added it hot to whipped whites, added in hot caramel, and the rest. Spread in buttered papered pan. Left to "set" -- but it (the nougat) is still soft, won't hold shape well enough to cut into squares.

One thing I DIDN'T do was use the super thin wafer paper traditionally weighted down on the top of the torrone, as I don't have a clue where to procure it (anyone know?), but I didn't think that would alter the candy taste, or hardness for that matter.

It DOES taste ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS :wub: , and all the kitchen help has been picking at one end of the pan where i tried to cut it up ... Have thought what to do with the experimental half sheet of soft stuff left... over ice cream would be really yummy, perhaps I could form it enough to dip in tempered chocolate... or maybe cut and use as a layer in between cake layers... (hmm... I wish I had some right now! :raz: )

I really want to make it right, though, stiff enough to cut into squares and wrap/twist in paper.

Has anyone ever made Torrone with success, or does anyone have any ideas what I may have done wrong, or how I might make it stiffer? Anyone have a source for the wafer? Thanks!

I like to cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food.

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One thing I DIDN'T do was use the super thin wafer paper traditionally weighted down on the top of the torrone, as I don't have a clue where to procure it (anyone know?), but I didn't think that would alter the candy taste, or hardness for that matter.

There is a German wafer-paper for cooking called 'Oblaten'.

If you have a German deli/good shop around, I've seen them there.

Other places to check: King Arther or Maid of Scandidavia catalogue.

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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When I make my nougat montelimar, I cook the honey and the sugar/glucose separately- merely bringing the honey to a boil, timing it to coincide with my sugar reaching 260 degrees F. I then pour the honey into egg whites, followed by the sugar (I'll start whipping when the sugar hits 235 F). Yet before I add my nuts (which I keep warm to better incorporate), I continue to cook the mixture, while whipping with a blowtorch- gently warming the outside of the mixer bowl. I'll continue to cook until a small pinch of the nougat tests firm in a bowl of ice water, then add my nuts and roll out between caramel bars, on a silpat, dusting with a tant pour tant of confectioner's sugar and corn starch. My proportions are...

1300g nuts (hazelnut, almond, and pistachio)

200g fresh egg whites (pasteurized will not work)

550 honey

1600g sugar

340g glucose

I then keep it wrapped in plastic and simply cut it daily for mignardise plates...

Michael Laiskonis

Pastry Chef

New York

www.michael-laiskonis.com

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When we made nougat (the French version of Torrone) in school, we also boiled the honey separately to maintain its flavor. The honey was cooked to 120 C, beat into egg whites to form a meringue, then kept on low speed while the sugar syrup boiled to 152 C, which was also beat into the whites. We let the whole thing whip for about 5 minutes without heating the bowl, then slowly added melted cocoa butter to give it a more unctious texture and a richer flavor. Finally, warm nuts were quickly mixed in with the paddle attachment and the mixture was poured into shallow aluminum pans lined with parchment brushed with melted cocoa butter. We also put cocoa butter coated parchement on top to keep it from drying out and forming a crust.

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Would these versions of torrone be torrone morbido, the softer sort, or the hard and crunchy kind? The thing about torrone in Italy is that the quality of the nuts is so much better than most of what I can find here (maybe pros have better sources). I'm still dreaming about the torrone morbido I bought in Erice and I'd love to try and replicate it.

regards,

trillium

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Thank you all for the excellent advice! I guess what makes the difference is having the honey boiling, not just thickened and simmering as my Italian recipe said, and whipping it up all together for a while. And Michael, thanks for your recipe and the tips on adding hot nuts and blowtorching.

Yes, I know of oblaten -- half the fun as a kid of eating things with that wafer was peeling off the thin layer oh so carefully! I figured rice paper is what I probably needed. I will look up Pfiel and Holding, Nicole, thank you.

In the meantime, I will make another batch right away, and try the TPT or the potato starch.

Most of the soft batch is now almost gone, as I did mix some into ice cream today, Ted, (before I even had a chance to review the replies...and it was YUMMY, thankyouverymuch!!!) I also did cut some up and tried to put clean-looking pieces in petit fours paper cups to add to one of my platters of petit fours for Sunday brunch tomorrow. Even though they might be a bit sticky, I think people will be licking their fingers after they eat it!

Thank you all for your invaluable help!

I like to cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food.

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  • 10 months later...

I too suffered the same fate. My Torrone was too soft, basically marshmallow consistuency. You can also really taste the sugar granules. I think my problem was that I mixed the honey and the sugar together (as the recipe called for), but which doesn't allow the sugar to reach hard ball stage (I guess). Its a shame because otherwise it was pretty good. Maybe I will sandwiche it between a couple layers of sponge cake or something.

Oh well.

Mark :sad:

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. i make torrone at all holidays(well, thanksgiving, christmas, and easter anyway). I do not heat my syrups separately, i always heated my honey, sugar, h2o, and cornsyrup together. I'll have to try heating separately and see if i get a more pronounced honey flavor.

I'll have to say i've had the problem of soft torrone too. not that it was bad by any stretch. soft torrone makes great candy bars. One thing that happened by accident last year, i overcooked my syrup. My recipe calls for the syrup to be heated to 290F. Mine was close to 310F when i added it to the whites. the result: best damntorrone i ever made. firmed up NICE. All the old paisanos at my holiday party loved it...and they don't like too much!!

My relatives used to go into phila. to get the "good" torrone, but that torrone is rock solid. they literally had to use a hammer to break chunks off, and it tasted real cheap and sugary. not a fan of that torrone.

...and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce it tastes alot more like prunes than rhubarb does. groucho

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...sounds like the consensus is, the less you cook your sugar, the softer it is, and the more you cook it, the firmer it is, right? This is where that second phase of 'cooking' with the blowtorch becomes vital. Bakerboy stumbled onto the right idea, and lucked out- cook your sugar too much and it will crystallize immediately upon hitting the cool egg whites, or worse yet, the bowl or whip. Cooking to the hard ball stage will make for a nice delivery, though for the perfect texture of the finished product, you must cook further, hence the torch. It may seem awkward at first, but simply moving the torch around the bowl is all it takes. To know it's working, you will notice the mixture pulling away from the bowl where the heat is being applied. While I now can get a sense of it being 'done' just by sight, the best test is to periodically spoon a bit out and place into a bowl of ice water to check the firmness, as I mentioned in that earlier post upthread.

I've recently become a fan of a chocolate version- the added cocoa butter aids in the texture but also makes for a slightly less sticky result- no need for nougat paper or tpt. Applying the same method (I now cook the honey just beyond a boil, to 121C, and adding the melted chocolate and cocoa to the mixture just before the nuts) is this variation...

425g honey

500g granulated sugar

120g glucose

200g water

90g egg whites

30g granulated sugar

10g egg white powder

275g chocolate 100%

20g cocoa powder

250g hazelnut

250g almnd

150g pistachio

125g candied orange peel

Edited by Michael Laiskonis (log)

Michael Laiskonis

Pastry Chef

New York

www.michael-laiskonis.com

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I tried to make this recipe, from About.com:

Torrone, otherwise known as nougat, is a concoction made from honey, well-whipped egg whites, vanilla, and walnuts or almonds; it's an ancient sweet that requires considerable skill and care to make well, and in the past was also a great favorite among pastry chefs because it can be used as a building material for making fanciful cakes and other such delights. It's made throughout Italy, and Sicily's is especially renowned. Torrone Bianco also has pistachios.

Prep Time :

Cook Time :

Type of Prep : Heat

Cuisine : Italian

Occasion : Christmas

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/8 pounds (500 g) toasted almonds

2/3 pound (300 g) honey

1 cup sugar

3 egg whites

The grated zest of a lemon

A teaspoon of vanilla extract

Edible rice paper or fine wafers of the kind used in baking

PREPARATION:

Preparing torrone at home is not easy: One needs exercise great care in the cooking, stirring the ingredients constantly to obtain a well-amalgamated mixture.

Begin by cooking the honey for an hour over a double boiler, stirring constantly, until it has caramelized.

In the meantime make a syrup with the sugar (you'll want three volumes of sugar to two volumes water), heating the mixture gently while stirring it constantly too lest it stick to the bottom of the pan.

Beat the egg white to stiff peaks, and add them, a little at a time, to the caramelized honey. Mix and continue cooking, directly over a low flame, stirring all the while. The honey will begin to expand and become frothy; continue mixing for a few more minutes and gradually incorporate the syrup, mixing well. Continue cooking and stirring, and when the mixture begins to tighten up and harden, incorporate the almonds, vanilla, and lemon zest. Mix thoroughly and turn the mixture into a pan, preferably square or rectangular in profile, that you have lined with wafers or rice paper. Cover the top of the torrone as well, and press down so as to level the torrone and press out any air bubbles that may have formed.

When the torrone has cooled, turn it out onto a wafer-lined work surface, and use a sharp knife to slice it as you prefer. The best way to cut a crumbly torrone is to place the knife blade on the torrone and tap it sharply with the other hand to obtain irregularly shaped chunks of torrone. Torrone should be kept sealed in a cool dry place.

I had the honey over a double boiler for a little over an hour, but didn't notice much change in consistency or color.

After incorporating the egg white, the mixture never really hardened. Nor was it white -- it is a straw color. After adding everything and pouring into a pan, the syrup separated out to the bottom. I tried putting it back into to the pot and heating it again, and the whole thing deflated.

Any suggestions?

Edited by Stone (log)
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I haven't tried making torrone myself yet, but am interested in doing so sometime... (it does sound pretty tricky though).

(as an aside, I had an excellent Italian torrone a month ago that was flavored with coffee--nice contrast to the sweetness).

Anyway, not sure if you searched egullet, but there is an earlier thread w/a bunch of reminiscences/suggestions here .

Forum Host: maybe these would two threads would be good 'merge' candidates; to keep the info all together for future reference... :smile:

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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I tried to make this recipe, from About.com:
Torrone, otherwise known as nougat, is a concoction made from honey, well-whipped egg whites, vanilla, and walnuts or almonds; it's an ancient sweet that requires considerable skill and care to make well, and in the past was also a great favorite among pastry chefs because it can be used as a building material for making fanciful cakes and other such delights. It's made throughout Italy, and Sicily's is especially renowned. Torrone Bianco also has pistachios.

After incorporating the egg white, the mixture never really hardened. Nor was it white -- it is a straw color. After adding everything and pouring into a pan, the syrup separated out to the bottom. I tried putting it back into to the pot and heating it again, and the whole thing deflated.

Any suggestions?

There was an extensive thread on Torrone and nougat in another Forum I belong to, this link will show you a recipe for the more white Nougat with nuts in it that is more like the commercially produced ighter-colored stuff.

http://www.baking911.com/candy_nougat.htm

Apparently the darker type is more traditionally made at home in Italy, possibly Sicily in particular.

It's not the destination, but the journey!
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