[Sca-cooks] black nougat

[Vincent Cuenca]

All this talk of truffles and redactions and so forth brings me to a
question:

One of the recipes in "Llibre de Totes Maneres de Confits" is for a hazelnut
nougat.  Basically, you take equal weights of hazelnuts and honey.  Add an
egg white to the honey, then cook over low heat. Add the nuts when the honey
begins to boil.  Pour out on a clean wooden board and cut into pieces when
cool.

This looks a lot like Provencal black nougat, except for the egg white.  So
what role is the egg white playing in the recipe?  I know egg whites are
essential in white nougat, in which the whites are beaten stiff and then the
sugar syrup is added.  It could possibly be a clarifying agent, except other
recipes in the "Llibre" describe the clarifying process in detail, and this
particular recipe does not refer to the process.

Any ideas?

Muirdeach? Dame Alys? Master A?  Anybody?

Vicente

PS:  Looks like I'm doing the Gathering of the Chieftains at the end of
February.  If anyone's got that weekend open, come on down to the Barony of
Three Rivers (St. Louis, MO).  There's a roundshield and mass-weapon
tourney, lots of shopping and socializing, and the food should be pretty
decent. :-)

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It's great to be known, but it's even better to be known as strange.
-Takeshi Kaga


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