Nougat is too soft, any remedies?

[foodie3]

i made the nougat (kerry beal's recipe from recipe gullet), it set up to a very soft consistency - doesn't hold its shape and very sticky, i wonder whether there is anything i can do know to remedy this.

my plan at the moment is to roll it in chopped pistachios and serve in small paper cups.

[reenicake]

store in a closed container with dessicant for a few days... the chopped nut coating sounds delicious though.

[chiantiglace]

definately needs to be stored well. Cook the sugar higher.

[Kerry Beal]

Not so sure what can be done to rescue this batch, I like your idea of the chopped pistachio. You might try sprinkling with a bit of cornstarch to facilitate working with the sticky stuff, cutting into small chunks and dipping each into tempered chocolate.

Next batch try beating the nougat a bit longer before adding the nuts. Did you add any cocoa butter? I ask because if you did, how you add it can affect setting up.

Edited November 21, 2006 by Kerry Beal (log)

[foodie3]

Not so sure what can be done to rescue this batch, I like your idea of the chopped pistachio.  You might try sprinkling with a bit of cornstarch to facilitate working with the sticky stuff, cutting into small chunks and dipping each into tempered chocolate.

Next batch try beating the nougat a bit longer before adding the nuts.  Did you add any cocoa butter?  I ask because if you did, how you add it can affect setting up.

←

i am quite sure that i didn't beat long enough, i was afraid that i would not be able to add the nuts if it cools off too much. it tastes fine, but a pita to work with!

i used a silpat sheet, and found that cornstarch/powdered sugar mixture didn't help much. i added no cocoa butter or almond paste. thanks for your help

[aguynamedrobert]

Hello,

I would try to cook the sugar to a little higher temp? are you using egg whites to make this or no?

Either way Kerry is on here so she will be able to remedy something. I have just had my nougat not stand up before as well and I just needed to cook it to a slightly high temp.

-Robert

www.chocolateguild.com

[HQAntithesis]

If you've already added the sugar to the egg whites and have found the mixture is still too soft you can always heat the sides of the bowl with a heat gun or blow torch (while the machine is still running) to make the final product firmer.

[Kerry Beal]

If you've already added the sugar to the egg whites and have found the mixture is still too soft you can always heat the sides of the bowl with a heat gun or blow torch (while the machine is still running) to make the final product firmer.

←

I have had to do this a couple of times when it didn't start to thicken with continued beating, I take the heat gun to it or put briefly over a double boiler while beating, I do have a blow torch in the kitchen but I haven't tried that so far.

[gfron1]

I've been PMing Kerry because I had the same problem as foodie3. There is only one vague component of Kerry's recipe - "continue to beat until stiffens." I'm dismissing my altitude on this flop, and think it has to do with what "stiffens" means. Can anyone give me a specific sign that would suggest I stiffened enough? These were plenty stiff when I cut and packed them. The oozing happened the next morning, and no - we don't have humidity so that's not a factor.

As you can tell, it didnt' stop me from eating the whole batch, but it would have been nice to sell them for the holidays.

[Kerry Beal]

Geez, Louise, mine's been soft - but never quite that soft!

So the first thing is thermometer - you need to be sure that your sugar has gotten to the right temperature.

Given they looked OK when they hit the packaging and they have liquified like that overnight - it almost looks like something has dissolved. That's kind of the look that cordials have when the invertase starts to work on the sucrose crystals.

[beryl94903]

I hope 9 years isn't too late to add to this thread. A similar thing happened to me. My nougat set up to about the consistency of marshmallow creme. I later found out my candy thermometer was broken and very likely I didn't heat the syrup high enough (it had just barely begun a hard crack stage but was threading==once I began to question the thermometer I went back to the drop a bit in water method.  Nevertheless, my egg whites were very stiff and I beat with my mixer a long time til it was a shiny heavy mass. I set it up in pans in a covered plastic box in the garage (got down to about 40 degrees in there overnight) but still...unbelievably delicious marshmallow creme.

I can salvage it as centers to tempered chocolates but that's a lot of chocolates.  If I were to warm it, to make it runnier, return it to the bowl and make a much hotter syrup--say 290 or 295, then add and continue to beat...well actually that doesn't sound like it would work at all--too thick to beat. Sigh. We only have a few days a year dry enough to make nougat...I'll put it in a box with desiccant per reenicake but don't think there's a save here beyond the chocolate. Needless to say, I have a lot more nougat than chocolate. B

[keychris]

I was taught that in addition to having your sugar at the right temperature, it's important to test the nougat as you beat it, if it's cooling down and still not making a nice firm consistency when  you put it in iced water, you need to apply heat to the bowl to evaporate more water from the mixture until you get the consistency you want.

[earlybird]

Hi Everyone,

First time posting...I don't know how long these threads stay active, but I hope someone reads my cry for help. I'm on my 6th batch of a raspberry pistachio nougat and I'm continually having problems with it weeping once cut. My recipe temperatures are:

honey to 130ºC

sugar/glucose to 150ºC

add cocoa butter melted to 45ºC

 

I have triple checked my thermometer. I use the same thermometer to make a chocolate nougat and a hazelnut nougat (with praline paste) and do not have any problems with those.

I temp the entire pot and am confident the whole pot has reached the desired temp.

I've experimented with cooking each syrup up to 5º higher.

I've torched the bowl after adding each syrup to further dry out the meringue - the resulting nougat was much stiffer than other batches/firmer to cut/chewier texture, but still wept out of shape 12 hours after cutting.

 

My only remaining hypothesis is that I need to whip the nougat longer to a cooler temp. That the cocoa butter is what allows the nougat to hold its shape and, in a sense, I need to pre-crystallize it before taking it out of the mixer. Is that the right theory?

I usually end up scraping it out when the motor on my kitchen aid sounds as if it's about to give up and die. I'm not sure it has the power to mix it any longer. 

Maybe I should let the sugar syrups cool to a lower temp before adding to the meringue so the temperature has less far to drop?

 

I last made this nougat (with peanuts) a few years ago and didn't have this problem. I'm now working in a different kitchen. The only ingredient difference is that I'm using a locally produced farm honey instead of a commercially purchased one. I am skeptical that's a problem. And I previously only made the nougat in the fall/winter. But nougat should be stable at 70/73ºF, right?

 

I am open to any and all ideas. I've looked through Greweling's book and didn't find any additional ideas. Are there any other good (non-chocolate) confection books out there?

 

Nougat next day after cutting

IMG_4036.HEIC.pdf

 

Same nougat on day one, along with the chocolate and hazelnut which both keep their shape

IMG_3219.HEIC.pdf

[earlybird]

just realized the weepy photo didn't load right. Trying again

IMG_4036.HEIC.pdf